Monday Mix Tape: [upside-down-truth edition]

Eighth week of Epiphany and everything's pointing toward our need for life in death.  In the Scriptural narrative, the Messiah begins to reveal himself to those who know him best.  I think they kind of knew all along, but the hard truth He gives them is that He's not going to rescue them the way they'd always hoped.  Vindication for suffering must wait.  Death comes before life.  Cross before resurrection.  Winter before spring.  Hurt before healing.  Peter prophesies the true identity of the One who'd been promised, and later eats his words.  Kindness before repentence.


It's still winter here, several inches of new snow falling in the last two days.  Unfortunately, our hearts are already fully intent on spring, having spent Friday soaking in the sunny mid-sixties temperatures.   I want to be the kind of person, though, who is present to the truth, not daydreaming an ideal.  After all, being present to winter, to suffering, to disappointment, to the reality of death is the only place to stand when hoping for new life.


So, we hope for spring.  We hope for all things to be made new.  We hope for a truth that makes a difference, bringing change to our disappointing, even desperate, reality.

For this week's mixtape, I was thinking about truth.  The kind with power to change, heal, resurrect.  We were born with a desire for truth wired into our innermost selves.  We were made so intricately, even the tiniest infraction of falsity throws off our balance.  I was thinking about the ways our ideals deafen us, blind us to the goodness of God in the land of the living.  The way we perpetuate falsehood with our hopes of triumph, comfort, cost-free living.  Cross-less lives.


The true Messiah does not offer this life, but we keep trying to change His mind, don't we?  I'll be meditating on this all week, praying, writing.  Please do join in the conversation whenever you think of what you want to add.  I'll keep the comments and link sharing options open for just that reason.  

Bonus

One of my friends needed to see John Mellencamp in concert to complete her twenty-year-long "bucket list" of concerts.  Saturday he played at Radio City Music Hall.  We went.  The man is fifty-nine  years old and, didn't he and his band play their guts out for over two hours straight?!?  This really has nothing to do with the mixtape.  Hope you enjoy anyway! 

Lori and Stacey dreaming about the show.

Music that inspires truth:  what's your favorite?   Feel free to add to my theme or share what's playing in your ears right now...

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Linking up today with L.L.