Because it’s life

After a conversation with a friend tonight, I am much more aware of how we can find ourselves in situations where there is not much to do or to say. Sometimes we are simply left to recognize that life is given for the sake of our maturity...so that we can grow as human beings and become more ourselves, more the people that God has made us to be. 

Perhaps there are some who greet each day with sadness, with a question of the value of life and if it’s worth rolling out of bed. One of the great things that my dearest friends have helped me to acknowledge is that, as a human being, I am filled with need: a need that I cannot on my own fulfill. And rather than running from that need, I’ve come to see the beauty of hearing others express it in a way that I could never dream of doing. And so my need has become not a problem to solve, but the doorway through which I can discover the real genius of others.

For me, this song by Charles Bradley has been one that has captured well the sentiment of what I find myself experiencing. It’s not the precise lyric that I find so accurate, but the feeling behind it...the longing, the struggle, the hope. I encourage you to give it a listen. The other song that moves me every time I hear it is by Mumford & Sons. You can listen to it here. It’s a song that makes me want to move, to keep searching and keep moving because of the fact that I am made for something greater. 

We are all searching, all longing for something greater. And if we take this need seriously without trying to distract ourselves from it or drown it with something else, it can lead us to discover a solidarity with others even when we feel only solitude. We are not alone. I am not alone. You are not alone. It is our common search for the truth of our being that draws us together.