Give me your forever…

14 Apr Give me your forever…

Summer brings out the best of music in me. I don’t know if it’s the sun, the pool time, driving with the windows down or what but something does it for me. The boy loves music year round…as do I, but something about warmer temps makes my heart need something more to express myself.  What’s funny is how different what he and I take away from a song can be. He hear’s melodies, notes, chords, and rhythms. I here lyrics that pierce my heart or make me want to dance…and sometimes, the music in and of itself will sleep me away. I can remember a lyric I haven’t heard since age 11…but I can’t remember to remember a song or album title and sometimes even an artist’s name to save my life. He, on the other hand, can spout off artist and album names like…well like no one should ever be able to do, really. It’s unfair.

Have you ever seen someone with some thing or someone that they love? It’s pretty fascinating, really. As much as people will rubber neck in traffic to catch a glimpse of some horrific accident, I think people are just as likely to stop and stare at true love and true joy. It’s infectious….everyone wants it (whether they admit it or not.) Anyways…that’s how it is when J listens to his music. Especially when he finds something that is rare and new and unique and plain and simply…awesome. For the record…he does listen to some pretty incredible music..and some very obscure music…and music that is amazing (and accompanied by very random music videos.) All that to say that I get the chance to listen to a lot of different music styles and genres…most of which I will dub “post-something” because that seems to encompass just about anything and everything from what I’ve discovered. So all that just to say that…if you want a very cool, perhaps indy, obscure, entertaining, and interesting music blog…you should email the boy and encourage that to happen…until that does happen though, you will only get the very narrow slice of the pie that stays absorbed in my mind without his help.

Now…to the true purpose of this blog post.

It’s simple….grace.

I want to share an excerpt from Brennan Manning’s “The Ragamuffin Gospel” because I am (yes, still in the process of reading it) a ragamuffin…chances are you are too.

‘How long will it be before we discover we cannot dazzle God with our accomplishments?
When will we acknowledge that we don’t have it all together and happily accept the gift of grace? When will we grasp the thrilling truth of Pail, “Someone is reckoned as upright not be practicing the Law but by faith in Jesus Christ” (Galatians 2:16)?
Authentic faith leads us to treat others with unconditional seriousness and to a loving reverence for the mystery of the human personality. Authentic Christianity should lead to maturity, personality, and reality. It should fashion whole men and women living lives of love and communion…
The way we are with each other is the truest test of our faith. How I treat a brother or sister from day to day, how I react to the sin-scarred wino on the street, how I deal with normal people in their normal confusion on a normal day may be a better indication of my reverence for life than the antiabortion sticker on the bumper on my car.
We are not pro-life simply because we are warding off death. We are pro-life to the extent that we are men and women for others, all others; to the extent that no human flesh is a stranger to us; to the extent that we can touch the hand of another in love; to the extent that for us there is no “others.”‘

I’m guilty of this…I treat people poorly. I get frustrated. I talk about others like I shouldn’t. I say rude things. I say mean things. I don’t encourage others. I assume the worst. I talk down to people. My list could go on and on…but what a simple truth. The truest test is simple…can and do you love? Just love? True love…the kind of love that is patient, kind, and slow to anger.

It’s too simple isn’t it? We try so hard to make it more difficult…it’s not.

Love big,
E