farther along.

"Farther Along" - Josh Garrels from Josh Garrels on Vimeo.

Some songs really resonate with me, often becoming my anthem for days and weeks at a time; the words and the melodies pull me through when it doesn't seem like much else can. I firmly believe God works through poets and artists and musicians; their talents always point me back to the One who holds it all in His hands.

I discovered Josh Garrels' "Farther Along" last fall, but the words are still powerful to me; they are still somehow exactly what I need to hear.

I hope his words resonate with you today, too.

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Farther along we’ll know all about it

Farther along we’ll understand why

Cheer up my brothers, live in the sunshine

We’ll understand this, all by and by

Tempted and tried, I wondered why

The good man died, the bad man thrives

And Jesus cries because he loves em’ both

We’re all cast-aways in need of ropes

Hangin’ on by the last threads of our hope

In a house of mirrors full of smoke

Confusing illusions I’ve seen

Where did I go wrong, I sang along

To every chorus of the song

That the devil wrote like a piper at the gates

Leading mice and men down to their fates

But some will courageously escape

The seductive voice with a heart of faith

While walkin’ that line back home

So much more to life than we’ve been told

It’s full of beauty that will unfold

And shine like you struck gold my wayward son

That deadweight burden weighs a ton

Go down into the river and let it run

And wash away all the things you’ve done

Forgiveness alright

Chorus

Still I get hard pressed on every side

Between the rock and a compromise

Like the truth and pack of lies fightin’ for my soul

And I’ve got no place left go

Cause I got changed by what I’ve been shown

More glory than the world has known

Keeps me ramblin’ on

Skipping like a calf loosed from its stall

I’m free to love once and for all

And even when I fall I’ll get back up

For the joy that overflows my cup

Heaven filled me with more than enough
Broke down my levee and my bluff

Let the flood wash me

And one day when the sky rolls back on us

Some rejoice and the others fuss

Cause every knee must bow and tongue confess

That the son of god is forever blessed

His is the kingdom, we’re the guests

So put your voice up to the test

Sing Lord, come soon

Chorus

31 days || seventeen: music.

"After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music." 

Aldous Huxley 

 ---

You know that game, "Would You Rather?" The game that's pulled out at dinner parties or in small group Bible studies to break the ice and make everybody like each other?

Would you rather give up television or music for the rest of your life? 

That's the question that was given to me a few weeks ago, and my answer surprised me. Without hesitation, I said television. 

Despite my love for Gilmore Girls or Leslie Knope or Jim and Pam or the gang at Cheers, I just don't think I could do without music. 

And I'm not a musically-obsessed person. I don't know the latest groups or regularly attend shows or have any rhythm or a very good voice. My tastes vary, and yes, I'm just as likely to be listening to Justin Bieber as I am to She & Him. (To be fair, I only know one Bieber song. And it's great for housekeeping purposes.)

But I can't really imagine a life without music and lyrics and Christmas carols and powerful old hymns and dance parties in the living room. I just can't. 

A couple of weeks ago, Jordan and I made the trip up to Birmingham to hear The Civil Wars perform at the old Alabama Theatre. (My grandma once told me she had a date or two there, and I've loved it ever since.)

Our seats were so high in the balcony, I thought for sure my head would start spinning, but then the music started, and it didn't matter. 

Just like when Mumford & Sons took my breath away at Jazz Fest, Joy Williams and John Paul White came onto stage, and it felt like I didn't move for the next hour and a half. Their harmonies were impeccable, their voices blending and moving effortlessly across the sold-out crowd. 

And I realized, in that moment, why my gut reaction had told me -- in the event I ever have to make the choice -- to stick with music.

It goes past the notes and the words and the chords and the instrument and the artist and the 11 years I spent slaving away in front of a piano. It really is about how it all makes you feel. My mood is dependent, for better or worse, on what I'm listening to at any given moment. I just like to breathe it all in, whether I'm attending a live concert or jamming to the radio in my car or listening to Jordan's fingers fly over the keys. 

Like books, music has the power to carry me away and to bring me back. And I love that. 

I don't think I could make it through these 31 days without acknowledging the huge role music plays in celebration, in both the over-the-top parties and quiet moments of meditation. Music, for whatever reason, stirs our souls. It resurrects the past, brings meaning to the present, empowers the imagination. As Huxley said, it expresses the inexpressible.

Music wakes us up to the life that surrounds us, the life that was, and the life that can be.

This fall, before the onslaught of Christmas music begins, I've got a few songs on repeat, songs that are reminding me to celebrate, to say thank you, to rejoice in the now. I wanted to share them with you:

1. "Shake It Out," Florence + the Machine
2. "Losers," The Belle Brigade
3."My Father's Father," The Civil Wars
4."Up Up Up," Givers
5. "Alas I Cannot Swim," Laura Marling
6. "Charmed Life," Joy Williams
7. "Tokyo," Imagine Dragons
8. "Come Thou Fount," Sufjan Stevens
9. "Free My Mind," Katie Herzig
10. "Old Joy," Noah and the Whale
11. "Whole Wide World," Mindy Gledhill
12. "Little Bit of Everything," Dawes

---

I'd like to give the gift of celebratory music to one of you. Comment below, and I'll send a CD out to one of you. 

Make sure to tell me what music you're listening to right now!

choosing happy.

{photo by Something's Hiding in Here via You Are My Fave}

This week hasn't exactly gone the way I expected. On Tuesday, I started to feel a little bit funny, like maybe the dust from all my deep cleaning last weekend had seeped into my pores and was now stuck somewhere around my nasal cavity. Thus, my second cold of the fall (despite the fact that fall temperatures have yet to actually arrive in my neck of the woods) has come upon me with a vengeance. 

And I was having a pity party moment last night, a kind of "why-on-earth-is-this-happening-again-this-is-not-the-time" moment, when I decided: No. This is not how I will handle this. I shed a few tears, and yes, expressed my frustrations with the Father, and then I moved on. Things will get better. Life sometimes throws us curve balls, but it's all about how we handle them, am I right? 

So here's how I've been coping: 

- Emily of New Moon is a television show? You guys, have you been holding out on me? This is the greatest thing I've discovered since Anne of Green Gables, and it's on Netflix. Woohoo!

- Speaking of Netflix, I've also discovered the joy of documentary-browsing. So far, I've enjoyed The Lottery, Young@Heart, and Frontrunners. Highly recommend them all, but especially The Lottery, a film about charter schools in New York City. It's both heart-breaking and eye-opening. 

- Ben & Jerry's ice cream, obviously. Phish Food is my flavor of choice. 

- De-hoarding our house. Seriously, we had a storage problem. Four loads to a local donation point later, and our house is like a different place. Thank goodness. 

- Fall fashions. Sure, I don't have money for them, but they're fun to look at. 

- NPR Tiny Desk Concerts. These are changing my work day.  So. good.

- Looking forward to the weekend. Essentially, this is what gets me through every week. But, you know.

---

What are you up to this weekend?

top ten week: music.

{photo by Andrea via Hula Seventy}

For that moment when I finally get up the nerve to sing karaoke (also known as: songs I practice religiously in my car):

1. "After All" by Peter Cetera and Cher
2. "Alone" by Heart
3. "My Life Would Suck Without You" by Kelly Clarkson
4. "I'll Stand by You" by Pretenders
5. "The Chain" by Ingrid Michelson
6. "When You Say Nothing at All" by Ronan Keating
7. "Mandy" by Barry Manilow
8. "Turn Back Time" by Cher
9. "Poison & Wine" by The Civil Wars
10. "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey

---

For when someone turns my life story into a romantic comedy, in which I will play myself: 

1. "Dog Days Are Over" by Florence + the Machine
2. "Same Changes" by The Weepies
3. "Hold My Heart" by Sara Bareilles
4. "Heart of Life" by John Mayer
5. "Beauty in the World" by Macy Gray
6. "Let It Be Me" by Ray LaMontagne
7. "Blue Eyes" by Timmy Curran
8. "Inside These Lines" by Trent Dabbs
9."Stuck in a Moment" by U2
10. "Whole Wide World" by Wreckless Eric

---

For when I'm trying to convince people that I actually do have pretty good taste in music: 

1. "Fake Empire" by The National
2. "Living of Love" by The Avett Brothers
3. "Your Song" by Ellie Goulding
4. "Falling" by The Civil Wars
5. "Sigh No More" by Mumford & Sons
6. "Please Read the Letter" by Allison Krauss and Robert Plant
7. "Let My Love Open the Door" by Sondre Lerche
8. "Liar" by Built to Spill
9. "Pretty Flowers" by Steve Martin
10."The Everglow" by Mae

jazz fest.

Okay, I’m not one to over-romanticize things. (Wait, that’s a lie. I cry in my bathtub over books I’ve just finished and characters my imagination has turned into very real people. So scratch that.) What I mean is, I tend to look back on past events fairly realistically.

For example, I loved college, but I distinctly remember some really downright horrible, no good, very bad days. Therefore, I’m perfectly content in my life now. I’ve got no desire to go back to those three and a half years.

I guess you could say that my rose-colored glasses tend to sit in the back of my closet.

But the other day I listened to the Avett Brothers album, and I remembered: Jazz Fest was two weeks ago, and I am so not over it yet.

I’ve never been to an outdoor music festival like that before, so that could be part of my inability to let go.

That, and the little trip was part of an absolute whirlwind weekend. I feel like I didn’t have time to decompress. I didn’t get to gush about how good the food was, or the insane talent located in the gospel tent, or the fact that my calves were sore all weekend long from jumping up and down. (My brother definitely got all the family rhythm in his genes, but hey, even I can jump up and down on beat.)

Honestly, the whole experience was just so absolutely fabulous that I feel the need to tell all of you: Go. Go now. Go next year. Buy your tickets in advance; it doesn’t matter who’s playing. Just get in your car, and go.

I’d been begging and throwing hints at Jordan since our anniversary trip in January, and when out of the blue he said we should buy tickets, I thought he was joking. Turns out, he was serious, and I love him for it.

The trip was spontaneous and last minute and a little bit ridiculous: We had to be back home the next morning for my brother’s graduation, but we decided: If we can't do stuff like this now, when will we? 

Plus it turns out that the 2:30 a.m. arrival time and the 12 hours in the car were worth it.

We were packed in like sardines for Mumford & Sons, and they were so absolutely incredible that I forgave the scantily-clad girl behind me for not even knowing that the band is British. Poor thing. Maybe she was drunk.

Whatever their nationality, Mumford & Sons was, as Jordan put it, better live than on CD, which, if you have their CD, you know is saying something. Everyone was singing and jumping and playing air banjo, and it was amazing. And the Avett Brothers were energetic and fun and now I’m trying to convince Jordan how great he would look with a bandana tied around his head.

{See what I mean? Photo by Erika Goldring}

Maybe every outdoor music festival is like this. (In which case, what have I been doing my whole life?) Or maybe there's just something special about New Orleans and jazz music and perfectly sunny spring days and spicy cheese grits and people singing and dancing and just enjoying the moment. 

One of Jordan's coworkers said Jazz Fest was what he thought heaven might be like. 

He just might be right.

this is how i feel.

 {photo by Paradoks Cat}

This song has long been on my list of favorites -- I love The Weepies -- but something about it rings especially true during these spring days.

Here's to leading a simple life. Happy weekend, friends!

---

Simple Life

Can I get up in the moming

Put the kettle on

Make us some coffee, say "hey" to the sun...

Is it enough to write a song and sing it to the birds?

They'd hear just the tune

Not understand my love for words

But you would hear me and know

I want only this, I want to live

I want to live a simple life.

I dreamed you first

But not so real

And everyday since I've found you

Such moments we steal

Like little thieves, we rub our hands

We hold our hearts between them.

But will you hear me and know?

I want only this, I want to live

I want to live a simple life.

Move on, move on

Time is accelerating.

Drive on all night

Traffic lights and one-ways.

Move on, move on

Parking violations waiting

Turn off the car, breathe the air

Let's stay here.

I'll kiss you awake, and we'll have time

To know our neighbors all by name

And every star at night.

We'll weave our days together like waves

And particles of light.

I want only this, I want to live

I want to live a simple life.

what i'm listening to.

 {print by Mico Toledo from the Music Philosophy project}

Look, I don't claim to be some musical savant. I am rarely, if ever, ahead of the curve when it comes to what I'm listening to, and on the moments I am ahead of the game, credit can be given almost entirely to my younger sibling. My tastes are wide-ranged and varied. My radio station selection (because my car has neither satellite radio nor an iPod hook-up) is planted firmly on the local oldies station, and I've been known to dance to Bieber in my kitchen.

But I do like music, and since I bombard this blog with my reading tastes, I figured it was time to introduce you to the artists/songs/albums that are currently on replay on my iPod and in my car (which does happen to have a CD player). Without further ado...

Mumford & Sons, Sigh No More. I am pleased to say that Chet actually introduced me to this group long before they performed during February's Grammy awards, giving me a brief moment of relief that I am not, in fact, some musical tag-along. I've loved them since I first heard them; the music is both upbeat and melodic, part bluegrass, part... I don't know. Something else really good. And despite the fact that I am terrible at actually singing/remembering lyrics, there is a soft spot in my heart for the words of a song, the inspiration that creates such beautiful verses, and I think that's why I love Mumford & Sons so much. The words of their music are so thought-provoking, deep. Their songs are like poetry. (Good poetry, not half-baked poetry.) I could devote an entire blog post to my favorite lines, but here are a few, from "Roll Away Your Stone":

It seems as if all my bridges have been burned,

You say that’s exactly how this grace thing works

It’s not the long walk home that will change this heart,

But the welcome I receive at the restart

The Head and The Heart. Thanks to recommendations from fellow bloggers, I've been listening to The Head and The Heart's fabulous folk music for a few weeks now. They're perfect workday music. You could probably put them in the same genre as Mumford & Sons or the Avett Brothers, maybe softer. Apparently they haven't been around long, but they sound like they've been around forever. And I mean that in the absolute best of ways.

Adele, 21. Yes, yes. We all love Adele. No shock there; her voice is amazingly powerful and soulful, and sadly, you just don't hear many artists like that anymore. She reminds me of Ella and Billie, and I knew her new album would be no exception. Then, though, one night late last week, I saw her sing "unplugged" on VH1 (I'm sorry; am I the only one who didn't even know they did that anymore? Has it been that long since I've watched VH1?), and I was mesmerized. I got online to see when she was performing, and, news flash, she's sold out everywhere. Sold out. Everywhere. And it makes complete sense: girl's got talent.

Passion 2011, Here For You. Not everyone's into praise and worship music, and that's fine. I understand. I will say, though, that I can tell a significant difference in my mood when I've listened to a few worships songs before work. This collection, from Atlanta's Passion conference this winter, is packed with really incredible voices, all in the name of the One we worship. It's pretty fabulous, and I've got to tell you: Worshipping in my car has never sounded so good. My favorites? "All My Fountains," "Here For You," and "Carry Your Name." (Christy Nockels has the voice of an angel.)

Over the Rhine, "All My Favorite People." Okay, clearly I'm obsessed. I've tweeted about it. I've blogged about it. And now I'm telling you one last time: Please listen to this song (here).It's got that jazzy feel I love -- mmm, I enjoy some good piano music -- and the lyrics are perfection. Her voice is beautiful too, and  it just sounds like something that would play in a Southern pub or piano bar (did I just make that up? Is there such a thing? I have no idea). Whatever. Just please listen to this song. And if you don't like it, don't tell me. I don't really want to know. (Oh, and you can listen to more of Over the Rhine's music on their website, and it's all got this same haunting, soothing jazz tone... love it.)

So, your turn. What are you listening to that I should tune into?

--

Thank you for all of your comments on yesterday's post. Because of your generosity, Jordan and I will be making an additional $95 donation to the Red Cross as they take aid to Japan. Let's continue to lift up that nation and its people in prayer. They need it desperately.