right

sometimes God chooses to reveal to you things you never knew before, but at other times He allows forgotten realizations to return from a dark memory often clouded by the unimportant and mundane. it could be from a certain conversation, a few lines from a film, or, as it was for me tonight, from a book and a new song. however one's memory is sparked, it is always simply wonderful to return to a state of mind you had lost and to recall a notion that once made you happy.

it is often times a struggle to live a christian life in a world that is so obviously broken; it is even harder still to lose sight of one's christian purpose because of that brokenness, for when all one sees are the things which are wrong, one can hardly be assured of the right that is to come. a track on derek webb's new album entitled "this too shall be made right," webb puts his own spin on ecclesiastes 3 (as the byrds did some 40 years ago with their hit "turn turn turn"). in its original, solomon writes, "there is an appointed time for everything. and there is a time for every event under heaven." i highlight "under heaven" because the writer goes on to list the contrastive elements of life as a part of this creation: birth and death; killing and healing; love and hate; war and peace, etc. it is reality from a christian perspective (and perhaps from a secular one as well, though i would not feel confident enough to comment) that things in this world just aren't as they should be, and webb translates this sad state for this generation with his lyrics. here's the transcript of the song:

people love you the most for the things you hate
and hate you for loving the things that you cannot keep straight
people judge you on a curve
and tell you you’re getting what you deserve
this too shall be made right

children cannot learn when children cannot eat
stack them like lumber when children cannot sleep
children dream of wishing wells
whose waters quench all the fires of Hell
this too shall be made right

the earth and the sky and the sea are all holding their breath
wars and abuses have nature groaning with death
we say we’re just trying to stay alive
but it looks so much more like a way to die
this too shall be made right

there’s a time for peace and there is a time for war
a time to forgive and a time to settle the score
a time for babies to lose their lives
a time for hunger and genocide
this too shall be made right

I don’t know the suffering of people outside my front door
I join the oppressors of those who i choose to ignore
I’m trading comfort for human life
and that’s not just murder it’s suicide
this too shall be made right

when i am confronted by the reality that this world is ripped at the seams, that we have ultimately failed, i can't help but wonder if it's just fantasy to hope and dream for a mending; to believe that everything will come 'round in the end of it all. but such disillusionment is my own human short-coming, for it is precisely because of my dissatisfaction with the state of creation that i know beyond any doubt that there is more to this than what we see here.

c.s. lewis puts it best, "the christian says, 'creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. a baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. a duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex. if i find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probably explanation is that i was made for another world. if none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing.'"

my friends this world can never meet our deepest needs, no matter how hard we try to make it. all of our happiest moments are nothing more than glimpses into the life we were meant to have before the fall; this shadow of an existence is merely a hint at the reality of heaven, the reality of a perfect life with our Father, and if we would only embrace this notion and truly believe that God will make everything right one day, that we aren't foolishly chasing some unattainable illusion, then we can begin to live a life unfettered by our insecurities and released from the weight of this broken world. it was the eloquent julian of norwich who said, "all will be well, and all will be well, and all will be well." i'm finally starting to believe it.

(check out derek's new album at derekwebb.com)