Cactus in the Valley

I feel like this song has a spiritual meaning, mostly Christian, only because I am going through the same thing and it touched me.

"I never meant to wither I wanted to be tall Like a fool left the river And watched my branches fall"

-To me this verse sets the tone, it seems like the narrator has come to a conclusion that they made a mistake. "I wanted to be tall" basically says they made a certain choice out of pride which is why they left the river. Rivers in literature have many meanings but the most common one in western society is the river of baptism. Once you are baptized you buried your past and thus you look forward to living a pure way. The person left the river, or the pure life (or the grace of God), in order to pursue a vain life style where they wanted power, fame, ect... But in the end she sees her branches fall, branches could be something that is a part of her, like she's seeing herself change for the worse and then her world starts to fall apart.

"Old and thirsty, I longed for the flood To come back around To the cactus in the valley That's about to crumble down"

-Now they are worn and thirsty (or missing something that is essential like guidance, happiness, ect...) and they wanted happiness and grace to come flooding back to the "cactus" (or them figuratively since now they are a cactus instead of a flower from the river) who probably wants to give up, have a melt down, or is about to ruin itself. The valley could have a correlation to "the valley of the shadow of death," as Christians refer to it as "worldly life" where there is no life since there is no presence of God.

"And wipe the mark of sadness from my face Show me that your love will never change If my yesterday is a disgrace Tell me that you still recall my name"

-Now she's basically asking God to forgive her (she's repenting) even if her yesterday or her past actions are bad. And she's also asking him to make her happy again and to show her that he still loves her and remembers who she is since her life is probably falling apart and thus making her sad.

"So, the storm finally found me And left me in the dark In the cloud around me I don't know where you are"

• So now she's realizing that her life away from God is not what it would seem to be, the storm has caught up and left her in the dark (straight forward). And she's searching for God in her new life but can't find his presence anywhere since she is not living under his influence. She's misguided.

"And wipe the mark of madness from my face"

-This could mean a) she's gone mad and she needs God to help and heal her or b) like me she probably left because she was upset with something (in my case getting pressured) and she now wants to get over it.

"Oh, here In the shadow Here I am And I need someone by my side It becomes so Hard to stand And I keep trying to dry my eyes Come and find me In the valley"

-She's telling God that she's in the "shadow" and that she needs him because she never imagined life without him could be so hard, she tries to dry her eyes or pretending that she isn't sad but she can't keep on doing it so she's asking God to find her in the "Valley of the Shadow of Death."

Yup, I definitely know where she's coming from.

Almost forgot this phrase:

"If this whole world goes up in arms All I can do is stand And I won't fight for anyone Until you move my hand"

-Right here she's pledging her alligence anew to God telling him that if the world begins a new war (or maybe an Apocalypse) she wont do anything until she is guided or commanded to do so by God.