Music and Meaning

I spent $50 on iTunes yesterday.  I just needed some new music, darn it! I logged in to spend a $15 gift certificate that I had gotten for Christmas, and ended up... well, you know.

As I was browsing about iTunes I came across a category of Christian hard rock.  Cool.  I checked it out.

I wish I could remember the name of this particular band, but the lyrics started out with a really vivid description of a girl cutting... and I immediately clicked off.  I'm sure it led to something transcendent, but I didn't stick around to find out.

The way God made me was to be super sensitive to images... I haven't seen Schindler's List, or gone to the Holocaust Museum, or seen The Passion, and I don't watch violent or degrading movies, or listen to violent, graphic music because these are things that stick with me.  I know exactly how brutal human beings can be to each other.  I do not need artistic representations of it to be understand this or to embrace the notion of transcendence and forgiveness.

A few months ago I had to research some Nazi artifacts for work, and stopped every once in a while to go throw up.  The things we think about -whether out of necessity or habit- shape who we are.

I do not have the luxury of wallowing in darkness.  Most people have a bungee cord that brings them back up the well.  For me, it is a slow slippery climb back so I have to make the effort to keep my thoughts from slinking back down into the hole.

Somebody really smart, I think it was Norman Vincent Peale, said, What we think governs what we feel, and what we feel governs our actions.

Most of the music I listen to (Aside from classics like Blondie or the Ramones or the Pogues or a number of others) have lyrics I can hang on to, and happen to be Christian musicmakers.  Personally, I dislike the use of the word "Christian" as an adjective, but that is the common parlance so there you have it.

Casting Crowns:
...
But the waves are calling out my name and they laugh at me
Reminding me of all the times I've tried before and failed
The waves they keep on telling me
Time and time again. 'Boy, you'll never win!'
"You'll never win"

But the voice of truth tells me a different story
And the voice of truth says "Do not be afraid!"
And the voice of truth says "This is for My glory"
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth
...

Jason Gray
...
When I lose my way, and I forget my name
Remind me who I am
In the mirror all I see is who I don't want to be
Remind me who I am...
If I'm your beloved, won't you help me believe it?
Tell me, once again who I am to you
Who I am to you.
Tell me lest I forget who I am to you
That I belong to you...

Or my theme song from two years ago:

Francesca Battistelli

Don’t know how it is You looked at me
And saw the person that I could be
Awakening my heart
Breaking through the dark
Suddenly Your grace

Like sunlight burning at midnight
Making my life something so
Beautiful, beautiful
Mercy reaching to save me
All that I need
You are so
Beautiful, beautiful...

I have come undone
But I have just begun
Changing by Your grace