Love song Christmas

Love songs are a staple in music but I think there are as many about breaking up as about celebrating love. For me, I hear a love song at Christmas. One of God who wants to be close to us.

Our response: say what? how can the Master of the Universe be our friend? We need laws. We are unworthy. You don't exist. Why is there suffering? Who created evil?... Anything but get close to me. It's too embarrassing/uncomfortable...

I always wonder at the aversion to closeness in so many many people. Maybe we are all waiting for the right guy/girl. But why do some parents not want to be close to their own children? Or even worse, to take sexual advantage of them because sex is often mistaken for intimacy (just google the word and see how many sexually implicit pics appear).

But the story of Christmas is God becoming human. It is the ultimate way to reach out for closeness, personal intimacy and companionship. Even if you don't believe this, it's still a love song! Do you hear what I hear? I hear the story of the most anyone can do to be our closest friend: I hear God say all I want is you.

Taken through

No matter what you believe, the rhythm and bass line are hypnotic. If only life can be so lively and celebratory all the time...

I've been taken through a long spell of what feels like trouble from the law, money, friends, relatives, work, depression, loneliness, hopelessness, jail, sickness, lies, oppression... Yes it was hard but I feel like I'm through it. Enjoy this proclamation.

It reminds me of another gospel song lyric: "...so many people doubt him; I can't live without him..." and this song which David sings so gently:  "True Colors"

Have to

The only "have to" is what you owe yourself. Sounds selfish. But it's like the airline security guideline where you put on your own oxygen mask before helping children. 

Everything else we do for others works best if we really want to do it. The key is knowing what we want. Like the oxygen mask, our feelings are more clear when we are in tune with that which gives us life.

Helpless enjoyment

It's amazing how desperate life has had a habit of seeming to me.  Archaic  sentence but my feeling is convoluted in a similar way. Yet, the feeling of helplessness is precisely the truth. For life itself has nothing to do with us. It is a gift.

And gifts are meant to be enjoyed even when we feel completely and utterly helpless.

Living birthdays

Birthdays are special. Parties. Cakes. Presents. And now there's Facebook to remind everyone. It's good for me to be grateful for life.

On this my special day, I woke up with a new sense of freedom and embrace from life and perhaps God. I say perhaps not because of my own doubt but out of respect for those struggling with suffering sickness limitations...

It's hard to believe someone created such anomalies. Yet in the past year I've returned to My Faith like a mustard seed. Somehow the assurance of such a faint notion compared to the concept of The Master of The Universe has returned me to the constant of life which we were born with. As we batter one another out of fear our fragile faith can become weak and can easily die.

For me the celebration of life is in creativity, friendship and taking steps each day to overcome.

Don't give up... never give in

Like most music I've posted, they don't give instant gratification: you have to endure some slow even dissonant parts before it gets upbeat. Such is the case also with Winston's speech in the middle of World War II: you can't get more dissonant than war during which this speech hits profound notes in our heart.

"Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy." 

Winston Churchill, Harrow School, 1941.

My favourite group is Take 6 because they are so well rounded and make great soulful music. This song just tells the life that is in my heart and pushing me to newness for over a year now. But it all begins with leadership the likes of which are rare today. That's why Winston's famous short sweet speech is so appropriate.

Don't give up (by Peter Gabriel)

In this proud land we grew up strongWe were wanted all alongI was taught to fight, i was taught to winI never thought i could failNo fight left or so it seemsI am a man whose dreams have all desertedTried to change my face and change my nameBut no one wants you when you lose

---DON'T GIVE UP, CAUSE YOU HAVE A FRIEND------DON'T GIVE UP, YOU'RE NOT BEATEN YET------DON'T GIVE UP CAUSE I KNOW YOU CAN MAKE IT------IF YOU DON'T GIVE UP---

Though i saw it all aroundI never thought that i could be affectedThought that we'd be the last to goIt is so strange the way things turnDrove the night toward my homeThe place where i was born by the lakesideAs daylight broke i saw the earththe trees had burned down to the ground

Rest your headYou worry too muchHey it's gonna be alright

When times get roughYou can fall back on usDon't give upPlease don't give up"

Where do you start?

It all begins with those whom you love and love you back and those who love you and you love back or a combination of the two because it no longer matters who started it...

Sound confusing? It is because love is a mystery. No one knows why and who started it and we all fear it will end. I never feared it until my recent mild yet still terrible trials. Somehow I always felt loved and wanted to share it.

Going through the "fire" has solidified this love like iron to steel or coal to a diamond: I feel it even when I'm afraid, feel loathed, nervous, unsure, tired, during the deepest negatives in contrast to my past innocence. 

I changed but the love never did.