True Love is…

I believe love is a concept that we often underestimate, neglect and take for granted. Many of today’s songs talk about love as a feeling or a physical impulse that are at times irresponsible and reckless. On the other hand, there are some that see love as syrupy and mushy like an early 80′s FM song. However, I believe it is much more complex than we tend to think or imagine. In this session let us dissect the true meaning of this word we call LOVE. One of the biggest questions debated in life is “What is true love?”

A lot of so-called love songs talk about feelings or physical attributes, but I believe it’s much deeper than just looks or emotions. Whether we realize it or not every human being searches for love and acceptance in one way or another. For example, the girl without ever experiencing a father’s love finds her way into the arms of someone who uses her vulnerability and destroys her self-esteem. Or the boy who never felt family security in a loveless home finds that same security in the streets embraced by gang members preying upon those who are searching for family love and a sense of belonging.

Life is a Stage

Life is a stage and on this stage each one of us are allowed to sing the greatest song we will ever perform. You and I are a “beautiful song,” God’s greatest composition. And like some of the greatest performers of our times, our lives are displayed on life’s biggest stage.

In this session we will be exploring the ups and downs that this life can bring our way. Yeah, I know you’re “more than a conquer through Jesus Christ” and “no weapon formed against you shall prosper,” but let’s be real and confess that life is indeed hard. There are many challenges that we will face as believers and non-believers and sometimes like a performance gone wrong we would like to just walk off the stage “in the middle of a song.”

As a performer, I know what it feels like to feel the pressure of the stage. Always wanting to perform at your best, but sometimes things don’t go as well as you would want them to. I remember years ago when I was still in school I had a singing group with a few of my childhood friends. We auditioned for the annual Easter talent show and prepared like crazy. We rehearsed for hours trying to get the harmonies just right. However, the night of the show everything went wrong. Our harmonies were off and the people began to get restless with us. They began to boo and shout for us to leave the stage and at that moment, thinking that it would put me out of my misery, I was the first to walk off the stage. However, instead of bringing me relief it brought me more disappointment and a sense of failure. Life’s challenges can be just like that making you just want to quit and walk off the stage.

This session’s song is performed by multi-grammy winning group Rascal Flatts entitled “Why.” It’s a song about someone giving up on life, losing hope and walking off the stage of life “in the middle of a song.” Let’s examine this passage:

Oh, why? That’s what I keep askin’

Was there anything I could have said or done?

Oh, I had no clue you were masking

A troubled soul, God only knows what went wrong

And why you’d leave the stage in the middle of a song

In today’s economic pressures many people are losing hope. Like the song, many of us just walk off the stage while the band is still playing. We think that one sour note has ruined the song not realizing that there’s more to life than one bad note. In the second verse, the writer asks the question – How could someone so vibrant and full of life lose all hope? I believe that when we focus more on the circumstance rather than the source of our strength it’s easy to get lost in the maze of hopelessness. We must believe that God is our source and that He is still in control of our circumstance and that He will bring us through. Again let’s examine a portion of verse (3):

Now the oak trees are swayin’ in the early autumn breeze

The golden sun is shining on my face

The tangled thoughts I hear a mockingbird sing

This old world really ain’t that bad a place

No matter how things get life is worth living it to the fullest. Yeah, and that means living through the sorrows, the pains, the joys, the memories and the storms. When we have the right perspective about life, the hard times are tolerable because we know that there’s hope at the end of the storm. Always remember that through all of the disappointments and failures God still sees us for who we really are, “You’re a beautiful song!”