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The Motions

I'm a BIG lyrics girl.  Before the music intrigues me the lyrics have to speak to me.  And this is one of those songs.  The first time I heard it, I mean really heard it, I cried.  It is MY heart's cry and frankly I'm relived to know I'm not the only one who cries to God with these sentiments. 

Solomon in Ecclesiastes lamented that life was meaningless, meaningless, meaningless.  He was afraid of the nothingness of life, the pursuits that end up meaning nothing in the long run.  Afraid of giving partial effort and the regret that comes because of that choice down the road.  When God has given us the ability to give our all it is not okay to only give partially.  It leads to complacency. 

Going through the motions.  You've done it and so have I.  Sometimes we go through the motions at our job, just getting through the day and not really investing in the tasks at hand.  Sometimes we go through the motions at church, just getting through the service with our "God bless you's" and our plastered on smiles and not really investing in the worship of God or the people around us.  Sometimes we go through the motions of parenting, just doing the bare minimum discipline so that our kids will still "like us".  Sometimes we go through the motions of a marriage, just communicating enough to make it all seem okay on the surface but not investing into the health of it.  Sometimes we go through the motions of being happy when really we aren't.  Going through the motions, we do it far too easily. 

To go against the instinct to go through the motions of life it takes risk.  It takes a concentrated effort to get your mind to override your heart (remember we live by our hearts).  It takes God's passion for his people and his work to swim upstream against the meaningless/nothingness of life.  And it's a journey.  I'm in.  How about you?

The Motions

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