I hope if you are reading this that you had a great summer! I was not able to find the time or motivation to write this summer. My summer was filled with a lot of fun times, some good prayer, and hopefully some new stories I can write about. I hate to do this to you again… But here I go. This summer needtobreathe released the songs that got cut from their album Hard Love. If you haven't already, go check them out! I’m going to talk about the song CAGES. This song is about how we sometimes get stuck in the things we think are going to make us happy. The first part of the song is:
“I'm a broke-nose fighter, I'm a loose-lipped liar, searching for the edge of darkness, but all I get is just tired”
I think one of the things that makes NTB so good is their honesty. Sometimes I think I am afraid to be honest with myself. Being honest with ourselves is better because we can see what we are doing and how it hurts us and the people we care about. Have you ever felt like you we searching for something, but you couldn’t find it and you are just tired of looking?
“I went looking for attention in all the wrong places. I was needing a redemption and all I got was just cages”
This is something I'm pretty sure everyone does, me especially. Why do we search for attention in places that do not matter? I think technology and social media plays a huge part in this. I know when I would post stuff I would always go back a look to see who saw it and how many people liked it. Maybe you don’t, but isn't that kind of the point of some of these apps? Sometimes we look for a kind of redemption in places or in people, but all that happens is we get stuck in those things or those relationships.
“If I'm being really honest I'm fighting uphill battles. I can't seem to find the right light ‘cause I've been living in the shadows”
(This part is awesome because we get to hear Bo’s voice which isn't heard by itself all that much.) Sometimes we get so stuck in our sins or unhealthy habits that we don't even see what is right anymore. We justify everything we do to make it seem right, but it's not, and you might not even be able to tell because you live in darkness.
“Looking back on all the wreckage, all I see is their faces. How many hearts have I broken? And tell me, are they still breaking?”
When you choose to live in the darkness and look for that attention in places that aren't what we need, people are going to get hurt. It may not even be noticeable until you look back to think about it.
“There's a window in this cage I'm in I can see what kind of man that I've been I'm in a prison for a man gone wrong, but I've found a future, this is not my home.”
Once it has been realized that you have been the way you are, you can stop being that person. That is not you, you have a better future. This earth is not our home, we aren't made to live here forever, are your actions going to help you get to where you belong? If not, you can change them.
“We're a band of outsiders. Spend our whole lives chasing. Trying to climb a little higher, but the high just faded.”
Sometimes it may seem like we are all outsiders. All we want to do is be on the inside. We try and get to the top because it feels good, because others will notice. Then, even when you do get there you want to be higher, it never seems to satisfy. This is what happens when we look for our happiness in earthly things and temporary pleasures.
This song reminds me of a quote by JPII.
“We are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures. We are the sum of the Father’s love for us and our real capacity to become the image of his Son…”
– Pope John Paul II
Just my thoughts.
Go with God,
Duncan.
