I never
considered myself much of a country music
fan, I’ll be honest. I’ve never
liked the “twangy” sound that seems to
permeate every song that comes out of the
genre. I can barely tell the
difference between songs, between artists-
it’s just never really been my cup of tea.
I used to think the majority of Americans
felt that way, too. And yet, arguably
the most popular American Idol winner is a
country/pop star and has had a string of
hits, and at the time I’m writing this,
the #1 most downloaded song in America is
“I Need You Now” by the group Lady
Antebellum, a country band. I don’t
know if you’ve heard this song, but I
recently listened to it on Youtube, and I
actually thought it was pretty good.
There are times when I’m so tired of songs
with attitude and bad messages everywhere
that I find myself really appreciating songs
with clean lyrics and a good message, which
this song actually has, believe it or not.
The
song “I Need You Now” is a duet between
two people who I guess have recently broken
up, said they would never see each other
again, and both find themselves missing the
other person. They both sing about how
hard it has been missing the other person,
and how their life has felt empty. One
lyric that stuck with me as I was listening
to the song, however, was “Yes, I’d
rather hurt than feel nothing at all.”
Isn’t it amazing how this seems to be a
universally-accepted mantra of humankind?
We’ve all heard the phrase, “Tis better
to have loved and lost than never to have
loved,” and despite the fact that we feel
pain when a loved one goes away, especially
that kind of love, we all tend to agree with
this. And you know what? God
does, too.
God
created us because He had so much love that
He wanted to share it with us. And
yet, despite the fact that we seem to turn
away from Him on a daily basis, He is still
there waiting to come back into our lives.
Isn’t that why Jesus came to the earth- to
reconcile with us, to bring us back to God?
There are some people who make an effort in
their life to turn to God and have a
relationship with Him, and there are others
who never do. That doesn’t stop God
from loving all of us.
This
month, we celebrate the Feast of Feasts, the
Great and Holy Pascha, and for the entire
month (and after that) we will
enthusiastically say “Christ is Risen”
to one another. Sometimes, when we
look at the big picture, we might lose the
small details (and vice-versa, but I
digress…), and in this case, Christ came
to destroy death, yes, but do we remember
why? Christ destroyed death so that we
would be free to maintain a relationship
with Him for all eternity. That is how
much He “needs us.” God does feel
a longing for us, which is why He endured
the ultimate suffering and humiliation for
us. I pray that we all ask ourselves,
“What do I need?,” and not just once,
but many times in our life. If the
answer is acceptance, love, support- and I
believe it is for all of us- let us remember
what the Lord did for us, to be with us, and
let us turn to Him and “Need Him,” the
way He longs for us.
