Sunday, March 18, 2012

Undivided Heart

One of my favorite albums of all time was Twila Paris's "Cry for the Desert," released in 1990. It included "How Beautiful," which we sing in church from time to time--a beautiful Communion song about Jesus and the kingdom of God. It also included "I Will Wait" and "Fix Your Eyes." And "Cry for the Desert" is a longing for a place of close meeting with God. The song that always touched and challenged me was "Undivided Heart." This was true when I listened to on my road trip on Saturday. Here are the lyrics (the notations are mine!). 



          There have been days when I would die for You
          And days when I would not die to me (I can feel that one!)
          There have been nights when I would cry with You
          For the sins of the world and the pain in the city
          But some nights I cried only tears of self-pity (That one hurts!)
          I need a love that will always endure
          Give me a love that is simple and pure


          CHORUS
          Give me an undivided heart, Place a new spirit in me (Ezekiel 11:19)
          Give me an undivided heart, That I may fear Your name (Psalm 86:11)
          Undivided, undivided heart, Undivided, undivided heart


          Lord, You have seen me giving all that I'm worth
          But only to find me taking more (Why am I so self-centered?)
          There are those times when I embrace the earth
          When I rise to the need and I welcome the labor
          And then I must fight to forgive my own neighbor (Struggling to forgive my neighbor, forget loving my enemy, right?)
          I need a love that will always endure
         Give me a love that is simple and pure


I find my own struggles in this song. This song speaks to my own wishy-washy nature--up and down. However, the song also gives me hope. It gives me hope because the struggle has been a human problem for millennia. The quotes from Ezekiel and the psalm show this to be the case. Interestingly, both of the verses were quoted in the sermon this morning. Is that a coincidence? Maybe, or maybe not. 


We are on a journey. We will not win every battle, and not every day will be marked by self-sacrifice, submission to God, and service to others. However, God will hear our prayers as he did the psalmist's prayer. We can pray fervently and work hard. We can ask God for guidance and follow as humbly as our human self will go. It is a journey--the missional journey of the Kingdom of God. It is great to be on it with so many others--past and present. 

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