Part 1 - Love and Broken Pieces

I'll tell the world (I'll sing a song)

It's a better place since you came along

(Since you came along)

Your touch is sunlight through the trees

Your kisses are the ocean breeze

Everything's alright when you're with me

And I hold my favorite thing

I hold the love that you bring

But it feels like I've opened my eyes again

And the colors are golden and bright again

There's a song in my heart, I feel like I belong

It's a better place since you came along...

It's a better place since you came along...

I see the whole world in your eyes

It's like I've known you all my life

We just feel so right

So I pour my heart into your hands

It's like you really understand

You love the way I am

Now I'm alright, now I'm alright

(Everything's alright)

I had a revelation of sorts the other day... and since revelations aren't particularly common, I've been stewing over it for the last several days. But anyways... It started after I heard this song in Starbucks while I was working on my manuscript. 

First, I liked the melody, then I looked up the lyrics, and it was just so sweet. So of course, I found it on itunes. But my feelings changed after hearing it on repeat a few times. Not in a bad way, mind you, rather, I realized something about how I viewed the song. 

Maybe you didn't notice the first time you skimmed over the lyrics I pasted, but look again. Look at the lyrics in bold. It blew my mind that really - if you reflect on the song in another context... it sounds like a worship song. 

He is jealous for me, loves like a hurricane, I am a tree

Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy

When all of a sudden I am unaware of these afflictions

Eclipsed by glory and I realize just how beautiful You are

And how great Your affections are for me

And oh, how He loves us, oh

Oh, how He loves us, how He loves us all

And we are His portion and He is our prize

Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes

If His grace is an ocean, we're all sinking

And heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss

And my heart turns violently inside of my chest

I don't have time to maintain these regrets

When I think about the way

He loves us, oh

And with the bold here... doesn't the worship song also sound like a love song?

Once I realized this, I was deeply challenged. Have we as young adults made an idol out of love - or even the idea of it? Because often, I find myself thinking that love will fix whatever ambiguous thing is wrong with me - or otherwise prove that I'm fine, that all my doubts and worries were wrongly placed. 

Truly... love is powerful... but it can't fix you. And if we're truly honest - romantic love is more prone to break you if you approach it in so fragile a state. 

And yet... again and again, we turn to love, expecting the world and winding up broken hearted and disappointed because, used in that way - love is an idol - used in place of God's role in our lives. In some cases, when we're feeling vulnerable, we turn to love, rather than God for healing, support and strength. But what a backwards way of thinking that is. 

Because indeed - Love isn't God, but instead, a creation, which cannot and should not sit on His throne. 

Spring is upon us, and I suppose God is doing some spring cleaning in my life - weeding out all the idols I didn't know were there. Then again, idols don't have to look like golden statues. They have quite a range of appearances.