The Leaves are Falling

Do you see it? I made sure that you couldn't miss it.


Change is coming. I can smell it in the leaves. I can hear it rustle as the trees drop their dead weight to the ground. I can feel it through my occasional donned long sleeve shirt. My body senses the light of day shortening as it longs to stay in bed a few more minutes.


My children welcome the change. Mr. Smackdown doesn't want the Hottie Hubbie to mow, for fear of crushing the change. For fear of ruining the change. He wants to run through the leaves with childhood abandon. He wants to savor the moment. He wants to take every moment of life in. He wants to live. He does live passionately.


As Mr. Smackdown and Mr. Me-Too were ferried around this weekend, they were silent before creation. Awed by turtles, canoe rides, and time with Daddy and Papa.


As I waited with Willow (my camera) for the boat ride to come to completion, I voiced my concern to God about the change in the air. I am not excited about the shorter days. I am not excited to be inside. I am restless like the leaves that fight to travel the farthest, angered by the fence that blocks them in.


And in a quiet, but rather firm voice. I heard God say, "Shut it." Live passionately in the loud moments, in the still moments, in the crazy moments, in any moment. Live fully in every moment.

This won't be the last you hear me speak of this . . . .

Restlessness . . .

Change . . . .

Desire to edit my story . . . .

Breathe

16th of June, nine-oh-five, door bell rings
Man at the door says if I want to stay alive a bit longer
There's a few things I need you to know
Three

Coming from a long line of
Traveling sales people on my mother's side
I wasn't gonna buy just anyone's cockatoo
So why would I invite a complete stranger into my home
Would you

These days are better than that
These days are better than that

Every day I die again, and again I'm reborn
Every day I have to find the courage
To walk out into the street
With arms out
Got a love you can't defeat
Neither down nor out
There's nothing you have that I need
I can breathe
Breathe now

16th of June, Chinese stocks are going up
And I'm coming down with some new Asian virus
Ju Ju man, Ju Ju man
Doc says you're fine, or dying
Please
Nine-oh-nine, St. John Divine on the line, my pulse is fine
But I'm running down the road like loose electricity
While the band in my head plays a striptease

The roar that lies on the other side of silence
The forest fire that is fear so deny it

Walk out into the street
Sing your heart out
The people we meet
Will not be drowned out
There's nothing you have that I need
I can breathe
Breathe now
Yeah, yeah

We are people borne of sound
The songs are in our eyes
Gonna wear them like a crown

Walk out, into the sunburst street
Sing your heart out, sing my heart out
I've found grace inside a sound
I found grace, it's all that I found
And I can breathe
Breathe now
--U2

Reflections of a U2 Fan

Several months ago, thanks to God, I was able to acquire tickets to the U2 concert for the Hottie Hubby and myself.

For anyone who knows me, they wouldn't have to think twice about who my favorite band is if asked. I have been a fan from the beginning of their career, not fully realizing how long that has actually been until this weekend when discussing U2 history with Hottie Hubby's cousin, Josh.

(This is only a small glimpse of the throng that was flocking to Soldier Field for the concert.

What if there was a line like this every Sunday to get into churches all over the world?)

(Getting ready to enter Soldier Field.)

(The view from our seats. Yes, we were in the nosebleed section.

No wonder I wasn't totally focused on the concert. I didn't have enough oxygen!)

Even the church we attended out in Colorado was known on occasion to use U2 songs for worship. If this seems a bit of a shock to you, please consider reading some of their lyrics and you will be delighted to find quite a bit of scripture and biblical allusion in their songs.

("We've found different ways of expressing it, and recognized the power of the media to manipulate such signs. Maybe we just have to sort of draw our fish in the sand. It's there for people who are interested. It shouldn't be there for people who aren't." -- Bono on faith, quoted in U2 at the End of the World)

Though a surreal experience and the biggest worldly desire on my bucket list,I found myself dwelling upon what comes AFTER the bucket list during the concert rather than the band.

God.

Heaven.

60,000+ people were gathered at Soldier Field the night we were in attendance (there were two shows). This doesn't even come close to the number of angels and people who are/will be in heaven. As I stared at the crowds, belting out the chorus while Bono took the lead, I was reminded of the place that awaits me in heaven.

I was gripped by the idea and sincere desire to be as free to worship the Lord in church as I was standing several hundred feet in the air on a tiny aisle dancing my heart out and singing at the top of my lungs (as if to catch Bono's attention). And yes, I know that was a run on sentence.

Shouldn't I be doing that for God, too?

I absolutely love my church and enjoy worshipping God at my church, but I wondered if worship should be a bit more like a U2 concert. Imagine if everyone sang to God in unison, like we all sang Sunday night at Soldier Field.

We acted as one, united by a love for the music that U2 creates and plays. Imagine the potential . . . imagine the addiction for Jesus that would begin in renewed hearts--imagine how deaf we would all become.

It would be glorious. (And the hearing aide companies would be excited.)

("When people are screaming in some stadium or arena, they're not screaming at you,

they're screaming at themselves and the moment that song represents."

-- Bono, 2000)

But imagine me. What if I got that excited to spend time with God?

I have blogged about U2. I tweeted numerous times about U2. The Hottie Hubby and I had detailed discussions regarding various aspects about the concert, from the stage, to the lights, to our seatmates, to the decibel level recorded in our eardrums. I took over a hundred pictures . . . just trying to capture the exact angle of the stage . . . to get a glimpse of Bono that I could enlarge on my computer screen . . . furiously trying to capture the excitement that buzzed through the stadium.

Am I that excited for heaven? Am I that excited to spend time with Jesus? Do I take figurative pictures for the Lord everyday of me sitting down to read my bible, scripture editing my heart, or video that captures my daily worhip of the Lord in the small things that speak loudly to Him and my children?

To be honest, I'm not so sure that I do.

"Yahweh"

Take these shoes
Click clacking down some dead end street
Take these shoes and make them fit
Take this shirt
Polyester white trash made in nowhere
Take this shirt and make it clean, clean
Take this soul
Stranded in some skin and bones
Take this soul and make it sing, sing

--U2

U2