And I feel
Like I’m slowly, slowly, slowly slipping under
And I feel
Like I’m holding onto nothing…..
So goes the lyrics in U2’s Lemon.
My question to you is this: What do you do when you are slowly slipping under? Where do you go? How do you cope? It comes down to this: What drives you?
What drives you when you’re happy and content? More importantly what drives you when you are not? What do you do when life goes sour?
The truth is, life really is one big fruit salad. It’s not always topped with cherries or strawberries. Sometimes it’s the pits. Sometimes life gives you lemons.
Those pesky things in life you can’t control in life (namely people and situations) sure are hard to swallow sometimes aren’t they?
Do you throw back stones? Do you make lemonade from life’s lemons? Or do you choke on the bitterness?
We don’t always get to choose our suffering, only our response. We don’t get to take the shortcut –that is the long way around. No, we are called to pass through.
Sometimes the suffering of others causes us to suffer. As if we didn’t have our own sea of sorrows we frequently wade in, sometimes we are called to go deep with a friend or loved one into their own private ocean. It’s hell. But it’s good. If you remember this:
I’ve got your back.
Are you still afloat? Then you are not alone.
You can even be the life preserver for someone else when they are sinking. You can be the sunshine in their dark world. You can do what you don’t think you are strong enough to do. You can go where you don’t want to go and see what you’d rather not. You can think clear enough to do what is called for here.
And I feel
Like I’m drifting, drifting, drifting from the shore
And I feel
Like I’m swimming out to her
Yes, you have to leave your comfort zone if you’re going to be in the rescue business. You have to leave all that’s familiar even if you’re going to allow yourself to be saved.
Midnight is where the day begins
Lemon
See through in the sunlight
Chaos and confusion randomly can surround us and seat themselves comfortably in our relatively stable world. These terrorist twins sometimes just show up unannounced and uninvited.
We’ll have to walk through the dark scary woods to reach sunrise sometimes. We carry our fear with us as we journey far into the darkness. Can you feel it?
You are not alone.
At the edge of the horizon of darkness, a crack of light appears.
Lemon
She is the dreamer
She’s imagination
She had heaven
Through the light projected
He can see himself up close
She wore lemon
Sometimes we are called to be the light in other people’s dark world. Sunlight is such a great disinfectant. Whose light are you called to be today? Lemon or lemonade? Choose well.
When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze. Isaiah 43:2
Partial Lyrics above are from U2 “Lemon”
Photo by Beautelle
u2areloved 