Skip to main content

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

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

April 5, 2015

The Feast of Firstfruits & Easter Go for Broke Day If it scares you this is the day to go for it no matter what. One Day Without Shoes Day Today is to raise global awareness for children’s health and education.  Why shoes? Because shoes help protect from bacteria in the dirt, rusty nails, dirty needles and shoes enable feet to withstand the long distances most children in developing countries need to walk to get to school. Join TOMS One for One There is plenty of criticism out there for TOMS and its short term solutions. Critics don't even buy the "at least they are doing something" statement.  However, you have to start somewhere. And every bit of awareness helps something go from short term to long term.  We all have a part to play. Read a Road Map Day One of the many reasons I would stink at The Amazing Race is because I never did learn how to read a road map well.  I remember doing worksheets and class lessons on maps and I was able to skate by ...

Butter someone up

There are two probable origins for this idiom and I think both are equally plausible. The first one is that when you spread butter on bread you are buttering it up like one would do when trying to flatter someone. The second is in ancient India there was a practice of throwing balls of butter at statues to ask for favor, i.e. buttering them up. ( source ) When we use the phrase today we generally mean that extreme flattery is used to gain information or favor. It's not always necessarily a compliment. 

A dime a dozen

"It's said that in the year 1796, the first U.S. dimes were produced for circulation. Hence, it would make sense for this phrase to originate sometime after." Read more here .  Today the phrase carries the meaning that something is cheap or without value if it can be lumped in with other similar or exactly-like things. It's more of an insult than anything.