Awake My Soul

The thing is, I cry a lot.

Also, the other thing is, that truth is ... well, it hits you square between the eyes sometimes.  And other times it appears as a soft dawn, the sun rising around those light pinks and soft colors until glory!  The orb of light is so bright it makes you squint a little and also makes you so glad you got up that early (always a tough sell).  It's difficult to watch a sunrise without a sense of awe...  even for a real jerk.  For anyone, words always seem inadequate to describe the beauty and grandeur contained in a sunrise.  

In addition to the crying, I am easily excitable.  I love loud music because I can rock my head back, throw my arms up, close my eyes and wale.  Also, to me, dancing is just about the best thing.

Last weekend my heart and eyes filled with gratitude at the Mumford & Sons concert, outdoors in St. Augustine, Florida.  The evening was summery.  (Sure it's September, but this is Florida, people). There was a lightening storm flashing bright and beautiful jagged light nearby but never over top us - sweet provision.  Plus, I love this band.  The music is incredible.  Their lyrics are steeped in meaning and life.  With my head back, arms up, excited little heart beating and mouth moving, I was deeply struck by the voices of 25,000 people around me singing meaningfully these words:

 In these bodies we will live,
in these bodies we will die
Where you invest your love,
you invest your life

awake my soul...
awake my soul...
awake my soul...
For you were made to meet your maker

You were made to meet your MAKER
You were made to meet your MAKER

And I cried!  #shocker

And I just prayed, "Lord Jesus, these people!  Do they even know what they're singing?!  They were made to meet their Maker! Gah!"  I struggle to express that deep oompff: that Spirit of ache and hope and longing and life... to translate things of God into words of men.  How do I express what I don't fully understand?  In that moment of realization the truth rose in me like the dawn and the burn of the sun continues to glow and perplex me.  I still feel like I am squinting into that truth... but I am so excited by it, a little in agony over it.  And I don't necessarily even know why.  I find that perplexing times call for soothing measures: of truth on truth. I Corinthians 13:12 "For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known."  And the best beauty that precedes this?  Verse 8: "Love never fails."  While eloquence escapes me, I can love.   Where I invest my love, I invest my life.
 (But I still want all those other souls to awake! Ah!)

Photocred:  http://spotted.staugustine.com/images/100008/photos/2013/09/14/gallery/2733273.jpg, Instagram: ayyitscasey,