This post is dedicated to Elly, Stu, Humf, Thomas, Kylie, Josh, Andy and all the other guys from Monday night group.
A song that describes me
Sleeping Lessons by The Shins. From the album Wincing the Night Away.
I know I’ve already picked a Shins song but after 2 hours of failing to find a song that describes me better than this one I couldn’t resist.
The reason I’ve chosen this song is that to me it reflects my experience of finding myself as a person. This was really special for me because it allowed me to get on with my life. It wasn’t a sudden and profound experience that left me the man I am today, it was a gradual shift in belief and attitude.
It all started in 2005 when I was about 17. I met a group of people that changed my life. One night I had nothing to do so I asked one of my friends Josh (my now house mate) if he wanted to hang out. He said that he was going to his bible study that night and suggested I tag along. I had nothing better to do so I decided to take him up on his offer. That night (It was a Monday) I met a group of people who to this day remain some of my closest friends. After meeting them I quickly found that I loved hanging out with them. These people were accepting of who I was, I didn’t need to act a certain way to impress them and I didn’t need to worry that they would ditch me because I was annoying or because they were busy. It was with them that I had my first experience of a proper christian community.
Now I had been brought up with christian parents and gone to church for as long as I can remember, I even went to a christian school, but aside from my family, I had never experienced such unconditional acceptance. Later I would learn that just because people are Christians that didn’t mean they were infallible. Pop culture seems portray Christians to be morally better than everyone else, but that’s wrong. Christians are exactly the same as everyone else, they struggle with greed, anger, addiction and ‘sin’ just as much as everyone else. The difference is that they they look to Jesus as an example of what they should be like – someone who accepts and loves unconditionally. Because of his love for us we don’t need to worry that we aren’t perfect. It is from this love that comes the community and caring which is what church should actually be. Its not about getting together in a building, singing songs and listening to a sermon – its about being a community that emulates the love of Jesus and builds people up!
This is what I experienced for the next 3 years. It was almost like having a second family, we went to the pub together, hung out at each others houses, ate meals together, studied the bible and prayed for one another and cared for and supported one another. Over this time I realised that these people were trying to live their lives according to the way Jesus lived his. He lived, died and was resurrected all because he loved us, he didn’t care who we were, he loved everyone unconditionally. I couldn’t ignore the notion that this was the right way to live my life, so after 17 years of ‘being a christian’ I finally decided to actually follow Jesus.
With this came the realisation that I didn’t have to compare and shape myself to be like other people, I had to compare myself to Jesus and aim to live the way he did.
This song reflects this growth for me because its like awakening from some sort of slumber or state that is holding you back. The song tells you that you don’t need to live your life according to other people (having a thousand different versions of yourself). The singer tells you to awaken from this state and be reborn as he has (put yourself in my new shoes ), and to do what he does because the things that he previously based his life on (old guards) were wrong. So he did away with the old guards (off with their heads) and is now living unrestricted for the right reasons.
My awakening was being reborn in Jesus – not living my life based on what other people wanted or expected from me. So I ‘chopped the heads off’ those ‘old guards’ and put on my ‘new shoes’, shoes that follow the path Jesus made, shoes worn by someone who tries to love others the way Jesus did.
This song probably means something completely different to everyone else, and that is the beauty of music. In any case I hope you like it too!
August 16, 2011 at 3:31 am |
[...] Day 15 – a song that describes me: [...]