Hold On, My Heart

Hold On My Heart

By Genesis. 1991
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Hold on, my heart
Just hold on to that feeling

Hold on, my heart
Just hold on to that feeling
We both know we've been here before
We both know what can happen

Hold on, my heart
'cause I'm looking over you shoulder
Please don't rush in this time
Don't show her how you feel

Hold on, my heart
Throw me a lifeline
I'll keep a place for you
Somewhere deep inside
Hold on, my heart

Please tell her to be patient
'Cause there has never been a time
That I wanted something more
If I can recall this feeling
And I know there's a chance
Oh I will be there
Yes I will be there
Be there for you

Whenever you want me to
Whenever you call I will be there
Yes I will be there
We both know we've been here before
We both know what can happen

Hold on my heart
'cause I'm looking over you shoulder
Please don't rush in this time
Don't show her how you feel

Hold on, my heart
Throw me a lifeline
I'll keep a place for you
Somewhere deep inside

Hold on, my heart
Please tell her to be patient
'Cause there has never been a time
That I wanted something more

If I can recall this feeling
And I know there's a chance
Oh I will be there
Yes I will be there

Be there for you
Whenever you want me to
Whenever you call I will be there

Yes I will be there...

The teaching is that the Christ will return, the shepherd collecting his flock. He realizes the importance of the devotion of the disciples and wants them to know he will be with them, to the end of time; however there is risk. The risk that they may not be loyal, they may not remain faithful to the One, the All, who makes the sun and the moon, the very heart of all the Christ has come to share. Yet he assures all that he, the Christ will remain until the end of time. -- St. Matthew 28:20

Tell her to be patient, the world is not yet ready, the place held open for all to enter is a deep, profound mystery. The Spirit makes a place for one and all. Hold on, my heart. I'll be there.

Staying Together

Lets Stay Together

by Al Green

performed by Seal

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I, I'm so in love with you

Whatever you want to do is all right with me
'Cause you make me feel so brand new
And I want to spend my life with you

Let me say that since, baby, since we've been together
Loving you forever is what I need
Oh let me be the one you come running to
I'll never be untrue

Oh let's, let's stay together
Lovin' you whether, whether
Times are good or bad, happy or sad, alright, oh yeah
Whether times are good or bad, happy or sad

Oh tell me why, why, why, why, why, why
Why people break up, turn around and make up
I can't see, you never, never, never do that to me
You better not do, staying around you is all I
All these eyes will ever see

Why won't you say that me, everybody says
That let's, let's stay together
Lovin' you whether, whether
Times are good or bad, happy or sad

Everybody says, "Let's, let's stay together
I'll keep on lovin' you whether, whether
Times are, oh times are good or times are bad
Whether, whether good or bad, happy or sad
Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah

In today's disposable, scientific world there is a decided trend towards absolute consumerism. We want products and services that will please us, that will perform to our expectations. When they don't, we often leave them aside and search out something else, as if at a smorgasbord.
It is pervasive and growing, even if perhaps without conscious awareness. A consumer, after all, is someone who consumes, eats it all up, and then goes out for more.
When it comes to people, we sometimes treat them like things too.  More people, more relationships, ever hungry for more and more, if for only a momentary pleasure or thrill before the sameness, the stress and loneliness sets us to searching once more.

Many want to "dump" what is challenging, what is uncontrollable, and find what suits. Our modern language and electronic media trends reflect this.
And yet deep down, in the stillness of the heart, in the soul, what satisfies is a sense of "can do" as in 'I can do this. We can succeed."   We want to know where to place our confidence, where our heart may rest. We may want to know that what lies in you, lies in us too.

"The one who perseveres to the end will be saved." Matthew 24:3-13

I Feel Fine

Something in the Way She Moves

lyrics/music by James Taylor

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There's something in the way she moves,

Or looks my way, or calls my name,

That seems to leave this troubled world behind.

And if I'm feeling down and blue,

Or troubled by some foolish game,

She always seems to make me change my mind.

And I feel fine anytime she's around me now,

She's around me now

Just about all the time

And if I'm well you can tell she's been with me now,

She's been with me now quite a long, long time

And I feel fine.

It isn't what she's got to say

But how she thinks and where she's been

To me, the words are nice, the way they sound

I like to hear them best that way

It doesn't much matter what they mean

If she says them mostly just to calm me down

Every now and then the things I lean on lose their meaning

And I find myself careening

Into places where I should not let me go.

She has the power to go where no one else can find me

And to silently remind me

Of the happiness and the good times that I know...

If feeling troubled by something, with something which preoccupies the dark places of my own mind, "she is with me now... with me now for quite a long time", as the lyrics go, takes me to another plane.
As for the lyrics, some have said that the song was written as a result of drug use by the singer. But James Taylor himself reportedly has said he wrote the song as a young man about a person he was involved with. We can only listen to the song and perhaps guess where he went from there. Where have we all gone in our own lives, and in collective life as a community?

A long time ago I would have said he was my favorite singer, but as time has gone on, I think I have expanded my loves to include more than those few. Over time when confronted with life itself, like the traveling wise men in the christian story about the Messiah, the simple mind learns that there are more than just one love for a person in their life, more than just one sign indicating the way, that the facts prompting a story aren't always as important as how they are valued. We live a life over the long haul. How I saw things five or eleven years ago was the sum of my experiences up to that point; how I see things now is part wisdom and part of who I am today, as a result of what has come to me over the time of my life. "It isn't what she's got to say, but how she thinks or where she's been."

I Am Afraid to Tell You...

True Colors
by Cyndi Lauper
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You with the sad eyes
Don't be discouraged
Oh I realize
It's hard to take courage
In a world full of people
You can lose sight of it all
And the darkness inside you
Can make you feel so small

But I see your true colors
Shining through
I see your true colors
And that's why I love you
So don't be afraid to let them show
Your true colors
True colors are beautiful,
Like a rainbow

Show me a smile then,
Don't be unhappy, can't remember
When I last saw you laughing
If this world makes you crazy
And you've taken all you can bear
You call me up
Because you know I'll be there

And I'll see your true colors
Shining through
I see your true colors
And that's why I love you
So don't be afraid to let them show
Your true colors
True colors are beautiful,
Like a rainbow

Sometimes we're afraid of telling ourselves or others about what really matters to us. It may at times seem silly, but it happens to most of us at least some of the time. First we must recognize what is us, what belongs to us. And making that real is often accomplished, in part, by saying it aloud to someone else. We're like the lyrics says, afraid to let our true colors shine through, afraid to be real with you. Why? There is no one reason, really. Each of us have many and many unique reasons.

We may be afraid that if we tell, another will be "mad at us," we won't be liked, there is fear of criticism instead of the effort to understand what I'm struggling with, or that change will be necessary on the part of others. Fears that I will not be valued in my realness, that you may even prefer me to be unreal with you...
This last one is possibly the scariest; to find that our beloved isn't big enough or willing to support us in being true to ourselves. Possibly we think that a part of us will hate them for their lack. We might wonder, why are we in their company, what are we doing with them?

Sometimes we aren't owning our feelings or values because we sense a need to 'humor' our beloved. It seems like they just maybe can't or won't accept our news... That is a situation which over time, may eat away at us, leaving us with a feeling that we're trapped. In knots, afraid to tell my truth; it's a horrible feeling that I have to humor you. Playing pretend with you, afraid to tell what matters, what is truth for me; perhaps you will find me disloyal, insensitive, contrary.

Yet in the situation in which all the options seem possibly bad, like telling who I am, it is this place that we must arrive in order to stop making loyalty to oneself, to my own insides, less important or perceived as disloyal to you. Can I stay connected and stay real within your sphere? Do my true colors shine through?