The key to living a peaceful and contented life, is to eliminate the 'I' and focus on the 'THEM'... very hard to do for the world teaches that one should get everything out of anything-- "What's in it for me?" The idea that the world revolves around you... the sense of 'entitlement'. So different from value of old... all for the betterment of the whole. I'm curious as to when and what started this movement... was it in the 60's? The hippies and their LOVE cry to the world. The drug-induced state that most were under that time? Go for what feels good? The word used, LOVE, is quite familiar but somehow through the years, the meaning has gotten warped. It is no longer sacrificing for others but loving oneself is the key to happiness. So different from the examples we find in the life of Jesus. I'm not saying that I'm excluded from the 'what's in it for me' group of people, I'm in the midst of them... but I try everyday to get out from that spot. It's a REAL hard path to follow, Christ's ways. But at times when I get a few bits of success, are for me, my happiest and most satisfying moments. When I forget about my pain and see only those of others; when I help others feel better as opposed to making myself feel better. When I give, for the sake of giving [goodwill], I find my heart smile and not just my face.
I have come to appreciate the little things and the most unpopular concepts in this world. For they give the most joy and I feel God's presence more. I ceased from dreaming of being great in the eyes of the world, instead I'll focus on being His child. Life is but vapor in comparison to eternity... I'll store my treasures in Heaven and not on the earth, where everything will eventually age, and die....
My eyes are now opened to the truth. GOD is, indeed, good. He doesn't give me what I can't handle, doesn't give me what eventually would do me harm, forgives me and loves me even when I'm not worthy of it. He wants me to follow how He lived his life here on earth-- being of service to the world, because that's where TRUE happiness lies. I also realized that some sufferings are just a form of discipline, to mold us into better human beings. We are rocks, constantly given frictions in life, so we rub off our uneven surfaces and become smoother than baby's skin. Unless we stop making the world as our everything, we will never be happy. Unless we are living a life for others, we will never learn true SATISFACTION.
"For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me will find it." [Matthew 16:25]
Such endeavor, focusing on others, is the road less traveled. But I must travel it... I must try to stay in it's path. Let's live a life less ordinary. Impossible? maybe if I lean only on my own capabilities-- but when I lean on HIS, nothing's impossible.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
What messages we don't really hear in songs we really love to listen to... [a light-bulb moment]
I love listening to music... it helps me relax and just appreciate a quiet, solitary moment. But I got to thinking, how many songs have I deemed to be my favorites and yet I don't really know the message behind them? What are they REALLY saying? Before today, watching Sam Tsui's rendition of John Lennon's Imagine, I was happily oblivious. But today is the day for some eye-opening, I guess...
I watched the music video but then Sam Tsui, cute and talented guy that he is, doesn't do much for me and so I took the time to really go through the song lyrics... and then it hit me, the message. And I literally felt my whole body start to reject the song. The first line alone, for any CHRISTIAN, would be unimaginable concept. What? NO HEAVEN? If there's no heaven, then doesn't it mean NO GOD? Why would there be a value given to heaven if we didn't associate it with GOD, right? And then it continued on to say, no hell below us... no hell? So we can pretty much do whatever we want with no fear of repercussions, right? nothing to counter our actions, so we are pretty much left with our imagination going wild.
THAT is a very fearful suggestion to me. I get the idea of having no religion to govern us, I don't like religion, per se, I believe FAITH is what's required not the structure we call religion. Like, my religion is not CHRISTIANITY, for being a CHRISTIAN is a way of living and not a group one can belong to superficially.
Imagine was one of my fave songs... the melody and John Lennon were reason enough for me that time to come to appreciate it's value, that I used to belt it out in the shower and on karaoke sessions at home or with friends. But then this... And so this question becomes bigger in my head, "Just how many songs have I liked but been oblivious to, message-wise?"
hmmm, let's see the whole lyrics, shall we?
It's only the first stanza that's really a problem for me, the second is okay, since it pretty much says that even though we come from different countries and cultures, we are one humanity. Nothing to kill is good, too.... so should I just ignore the first stanza and just go along with the rest of the song? Should I just ignore what it says and just focus on the melody and my liking for the artist? Or should I be more discreet when it comes to my choices, even to the littlest [and others would think, irrelevant] choices? What does my principles dictate me to do?
I am a firm believer that compromise is poison to both principles and beliefs. If you start compromising your beliefs and your principles, pretty soon you'll warp them and find yourself lost and not even knowing who you are and what you stand for in life. I can respect other people's choice.. their beliefs and the way they conduct their lives according to their principles... God gave them that much choice, who am I to judge them or stop them? I think even if we don't agree on things, as long as we respect each other's choices, we can live semi-peacefully. I believe that PEACE in this world will never be achieved for our Prince of Peace is yet to come back. But until HE comes...
So, I think it's important to be consistent with however it is that I'm trying to live my life to be. My works, my deeds, my character, my life is my testimony to my beliefs and principles. So if I am verbally open about my FAITH, then at least I should try to make ALL things in my life be in perfect harmony to that professed FAITH. I assure you, I will fall off tract countless times... but I will dust myself up and try again. Others might say it's overkill, it's just but a little insignificant thing... but all BIG things are made up of small things. I gotta start small to make the whole picture be the way I want it to be, right?
This is not just about the song... the song represents all other little things I've been doing, I've been letting in with my life that is not consistent to the BIG PICTURE that I wanted ME to be.
I watched the music video but then Sam Tsui, cute and talented guy that he is, doesn't do much for me and so I took the time to really go through the song lyrics... and then it hit me, the message. And I literally felt my whole body start to reject the song. The first line alone, for any CHRISTIAN, would be unimaginable concept. What? NO HEAVEN? If there's no heaven, then doesn't it mean NO GOD? Why would there be a value given to heaven if we didn't associate it with GOD, right? And then it continued on to say, no hell below us... no hell? So we can pretty much do whatever we want with no fear of repercussions, right? nothing to counter our actions, so we are pretty much left with our imagination going wild.
THAT is a very fearful suggestion to me. I get the idea of having no religion to govern us, I don't like religion, per se, I believe FAITH is what's required not the structure we call religion. Like, my religion is not CHRISTIANITY, for being a CHRISTIAN is a way of living and not a group one can belong to superficially.
Imagine was one of my fave songs... the melody and John Lennon were reason enough for me that time to come to appreciate it's value, that I used to belt it out in the shower and on karaoke sessions at home or with friends. But then this... And so this question becomes bigger in my head, "Just how many songs have I liked but been oblivious to, message-wise?"
hmmm, let's see the whole lyrics, shall we?
Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one
It's only the first stanza that's really a problem for me, the second is okay, since it pretty much says that even though we come from different countries and cultures, we are one humanity. Nothing to kill is good, too.... so should I just ignore the first stanza and just go along with the rest of the song? Should I just ignore what it says and just focus on the melody and my liking for the artist? Or should I be more discreet when it comes to my choices, even to the littlest [and others would think, irrelevant] choices? What does my principles dictate me to do?
I am a firm believer that compromise is poison to both principles and beliefs. If you start compromising your beliefs and your principles, pretty soon you'll warp them and find yourself lost and not even knowing who you are and what you stand for in life. I can respect other people's choice.. their beliefs and the way they conduct their lives according to their principles... God gave them that much choice, who am I to judge them or stop them? I think even if we don't agree on things, as long as we respect each other's choices, we can live semi-peacefully. I believe that PEACE in this world will never be achieved for our Prince of Peace is yet to come back. But until HE comes...
So, I think it's important to be consistent with however it is that I'm trying to live my life to be. My works, my deeds, my character, my life is my testimony to my beliefs and principles. So if I am verbally open about my FAITH, then at least I should try to make ALL things in my life be in perfect harmony to that professed FAITH. I assure you, I will fall off tract countless times... but I will dust myself up and try again. Others might say it's overkill, it's just but a little insignificant thing... but all BIG things are made up of small things. I gotta start small to make the whole picture be the way I want it to be, right?
This is not just about the song... the song represents all other little things I've been doing, I've been letting in with my life that is not consistent to the BIG PICTURE that I wanted ME to be.
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