Faith and Action

Minute By Minute

Performed by The Doobie Bros.

LISTEN HERE

Hey, don't worry, I've been lied to

I've been here many times before

Girl, don't you worry, I know where I stand

I don't need this love, I don't need your hand

I know I could turn, blink and you'd be gone

Then I must be prepared any time to carry on

But minute by minute by minute by minute

I keep holding on

Oh, minute by minute by minute by minute

I keep holding on

You will stay just to watch me, darlin'

Wilt away on lies from you

Can't stop the habit of livin' on the run

I take it all for granted, like you're the only one

Livin' on my own

Somehow that sounds nice

You think I'm your fool

Well, you may just be right

Cause minute by minute by minute by minute

I keep holding on

Oh, minute by minute by minute by minute

I keep holding on...

Sometimes, somehow we deceive our self. We think, almost without any regard for what lays beyond our front door that we are entirely clever, that we keep others around for our own comfort or pleasure. That we are the master of destiny--ours of course and others are around like actors in our film.
With claims that we feel guilty "because we only have them around to feel better," or because they relieve our depression or stress.

How ironic, how amusing! To think that the world needs, requires me, uniquely to function; to think that others are so blind. Maybe the old French saying, "He who accuses, accuses himself," is so much more closer to what is truthfully occurring.
Yet with a view to what others are actually doing, we may gain insight. Is it I, or is it another who is the maker, the doer of the speech or action? Who keeps who around?

And like the lyric, 'I know I could turn, blink, you'd be gone..." there must be more to it than 'thinking I'm your fool,' but what? Who fools whom, and what if the other person also feels comfort and pleasure too--what then? Does that go by the same name to describe a relationship?
Do they 'keep holding on'; rightfully so -- in faith and charity, cynically?

To give a response to all this meandering thought, Cistercian monk and writer, Thomas Merton wrote about obedience and acceptance; he explores the values of both. "We must be convinced that it is very profitable for us to exercise ourselves in obedience, even to commands that are not perfectly rational or prudent. In doing this, we are not blinding ourselves or telling ourselves lies about the case.
We simply accept the situation as it is, with all its defects, and obey for the love of God [the Creator]. In order to do so, we have to make a fully rational and free decision, which in some cases may be quite difficult."

"Do you want proof, you ignoramus, that faith (words, ideas) without works is useless?" -- the Bible, James 2:20

What's Your Relationship?

You're My Best Friend

Lyrics sung by Mercury, Queen

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Ooh you make me live

Whatever this world can

give to me It's you

you're all I see

Ooo you make me live now honey

Ooo you make me live Ooh you're the best

friend that I ever had

I've been with you such

a long time You're my sunshine and

I want you to know

That my feelings are true

I really love you

Oh you're my best friend

Ooo you make me live

Ooh I've been wandering round

But I still come back to you

In rain or shine You've stood by me girl

I'm happy at home You're my best friend

Ooo you make me live

Whenever this world is cruel to me

I got you to help me forgive

Ooo you make me live now honey

Ooo you make me live

You're the first one

When things turn out bad

You know I'll never be lonely

You're my only one

And I love the things

I really love the things that you do

You're my best friend

Ooo you make me live I'm happy at home

You're my best friend

Oh you're my best friend

Ooo you make me live

You you're my best friend

While we often hear this song, we think of someone else rather than the artist-singer. However a bit of delving into Freddie Mercury's life reveals that late in his life, he was preoccupied with a concern for love-in-life, and the absence of the love-experience in his own life. 
His thoughts turned increasingly to spiritual matters. His lyrics explore the role of human love in those spiritual yearnings. He may have died young, but he was hopeful as his lyrics. Did he find the love he looked for?

However often we may think about others, when I heard this song recently, I thought about the question of the relationship I have with myself. Yes, that One--me, myself and I. What does that feel like, who is that, where am I in my life, can I forgive myself? 
Sometimes, I'm just stupid, sometimes I really screw up. True, I'm not perfect. But isn't good enough, good enough? Must we be more? Sure, the Bible tells us there is no sin too great for the forgiveness of God, but what about me--me forgiving me? If I let go and fall, will I land on my feet? Can I confront what I so dislike and still live with myself?
How do I get to there? It seems to me at least, that the love we reflect to others is the love we see for ourselves. So how is that relationship going these days? And so often we struggle with our self. It can be hard to understand why we are as we are, why we do as we do. 
The lyrics here give a clue; we can't go it alone. It seems we are social creatures; with the help or simple presence of others in our lives, they our friends can "help me to forgive." From the sense of these lyrics, I think Mercury must have found a real love. I wonder if he knew it.

Talking to You, Please!

No Light, No Light

by  Florence Welch, Florence and the Machine
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...Would you leave me

 if I told you what I'd done?

 Would you leave me

   if I told you what I'd become?...

  

Sometimes, sometimes often, we find ourself at odds with others. It could be about any number of reasons-- or no real reason at all. It's just that their point of view doesn't match up with ours. We find ourselves at odds. We love our friends and family but can't bring ourselves to admit to them something they see from another point of view puts us off; we feel anxiety and lack of acceptance because their attitude differs from our own. Are we traitors to the cause? Have we failed to come clean? Do we fear a lack of acceptance, or worse, a lack of response at all? Have we concealed our attitudes and opinions to 'keep the peace'?

When threatened or threatening to others by these types of unexpected finds or disclosures, many are inclined to react negatively as if duped or betrayed. We think, "How could you? I could never accept something like that! You-- you never told me that! Can't you think? What else are you keeping to yourself, or keeping from me?!"

Suddenly there is a point of view, a policy, a position we feel must be defended. And often we take to defense at all costs, alienating our most important others because of truths we can't bear to hear. In our protests, our indignation, rejections, we may well feel we're letting our real, true self out and airing what we know is a line in the sand that must be drawn. But nothing could be further from the truth! We aren't just letting our true colors be known, we aren't just sticking up for ourselves.

Our dearly held points of view have turned others into enemies; our friendship falls away, forgotten. Why? Because when what we're feeling most intensely as 'our point of view,' what we hope to impose upon others forms a sort of strait jacket. The you, the personal you is lost, bound up into a position, a point of view. How can we interact, confide what matters most to our hearts when demoted to a nameless, faceless 'you'?

Taking it back to the point of recognition of a real, personal you, we find our self and our heart. It is here where we can tell about our concerns, acknowledge our misgivings; and recognize you, like I may be alike in most ways and different in a few others.
As often is the case, it's not the subject one engages with, it's how that makes all the difference.

Beautiful, the One

Beautiful

by Christina Aguilera

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Everyday is so wonderful, then suddenly, its hard to breath

Now and then I get insecure, 

from all the pain I'm so ashamed

I am beautiful no matter what they say

Words can't bring me down

I am beautiful in every single way

Yes words can't bring me down 

So don't you bring me down today 

To all your friends you're delirious

So consumed in all your doom.... 

Trying hard to fill that emptiness,

The pieces gone,left the puzzle undone, 

Ain't that the way it is?

You are beautiful no matter what they say

Words can't bring you down 

you are beautiful in every single way

Yes words can't bring you down 

So don't you bring me down today

No matter what we do (No matter what we do)

No matter what we say (No matter what we say)

We're the song inside the tune 

Full of beautiful mistakes

And everywhere we go 

the sun will always shine 

And tomorrow we might awake 

on the other side

'Cause we are beautiful no matter what they say

Yes words won't bring us down 

we are beautiful in every single way

Yes words can't bring us down 

So don't you bring me down today

There are many ways to understand the One who is all, the one who is the Beloved, the Creator, the Oneness, the Christ, the Lord of All. And these names are just a few of the descriptions used to understand the Gospel story told about He who came into the world, the son of man, the redeemer.

Music for many, including this simple mind, helps find a way into that same understanding. This song has always led me to that place with its passion, its conviction and its heartfelt meaning-- words can't bring us down. We are beautiful in every single way--we, the beloved, the Lord's own. Celebrate today.