Hello My Old Heart and All of Me

Walls. We all have them. We all build them.

They may be
                    Strong, vine-covered fortresses meant to keep out flaming arrows
Or              
         Invisible force fields, repelling anyone who comes too close

They may be
                    Canvas screens painted to suit whoever is on the outside looking in
Or               
         Facades that shift and change with every scene

Walls divide, enclose, protect.

Walls are not always bad. Sometimes they may even be necessary.

But I wonder...in trying to protect ourselves, how often do we end up constructing our own prisons? How often do we, in an effort to preserve our hearts, actually stop them from beating?

We have the choice every day to keep our hearts behind closed doors or to release them into the wide open spaces. Hello My Old Heart by the Oh Hellos and All of Me by Matt Hammitt explore each of these choices.

The first describes what happens when we choose to shut our hearts away, to keep them safe, building walls of protection around them. The other explores what it means to deliberately break down those walls.  One heart is safe, dying a slow death. The other opens itself to pain, embracing life.

I hope you take the time to check out these two links!

http://theohhellos.com/track/hello-my-old-heart-2


http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=FFF1FJNU


I also gotta mention Glass Houses by Red! Great song by a great band!

                                                                         "...build a wall, invite a burglar." Proverbs 17:19

The Unlikely Candidates

I heard The Unlikely Candidates song "Follow My Feet" for the first time on the local alt rock radio station several week ago.  I was driving but pulled out my pen and paper (which I always have with me) to write down the band's name and a snippet of the lyrics so that I could look up the song later. 

Something about the song really struck me.  I guess it's the fact that we're constantly faced with choices. Some big. Some small.  We can choose the high road or the low road. We can take what we want or do what we want simply because we can. Or, we can give everything and love others, simply because we can.  Our choices, the paths we choose, are determined by our motives.  Why do we do what we do?  The answers to this shape who we are and play a part in shaping others.

The song begins and ends with a note of uncertainty. Maybe this is why it resonates as well--who hasn't struggled with the question of identity? Of not knowing where the path will lead?

Isaiah 42:16, the Message version, says:

"But I’ll take the hand of those who don’t know the way,
who can’t see where they’re going.
I’ll be a personal guide to them,
directing them through unknown country.
I’ll be right there to show them what roads to take,
make sure they don’t fall into the ditch.
These are the things I’ll be doing for them—
sticking with them, not leaving them for a minute.”

The songwriters say that they don't know the way, but they guess that they'll follow their feet. I'm not sure about them, but I want to be deliberate about where my feet take me. There are so many things in life that are out of my control, but the choices I make are mine to own and I want them to mean something positive.

Several other songs came to mind as I thought about choice and identity.

All Along--Remedy Drive; All I Want--A Day to Remember; All the Pretty Things--Tenth Avenue North; Be Somebody--Thousand Foot Krutch; Breathe--Anberlin; Change Your Mind--Sister Hazel; Faceless--Red; Walk--Foo Fighters; It's Time--Imagine Dragons; When Love Sees You--Mac Powell; All of Me--Matt Hammit; Stubborn Love--The Lumineers; New Low--Middle Class Rut; The High Road--Three Days Grace; Run--Sanctus Real; Maybe--Sick Puppies; Tonight--TobyMac

What song(s) would you add to this list?