Musical Musing, “I Will Possess Your Heart”, Death Cab For Cutie

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. Rev 3:20

I’ve said I’m open to requests; after all, I have to find new music somehow. Today is one of those. John recently discovered Death Cab For Cutie, and he emailed me about this song this morning with the reference above. I read the lyrics over and was struck; this is a powerful song, and with that reference, wow; what an amazing image. But there was more. I had to seek it out. I had to listen to it and then just sort of marinate in the music and lyrics and find it all.

So I’ve had it on repeat this morning while I do other things, and I go back to the lyrics every so often, and then I realized what I was seeing, and found other references. For instance, when, in the second verse, the lyricist writes about seeing his reflection in her window, I was reminded of Paul talking about seeing our reflections in mirrors, darkly… but one day, we will see clearly and know fully just as we are fully known.

This song is packed full of those kinds of references, but they are sparsely worded; very clipped and tight. The image they paint though, the reference they make and draw upon, is much larger and grander in scope, giving this song depth beyond initial expectation with the repetitive lyrics and driving beats. I like that in a song. They say, after all, that brevity is the soul of wit.

I’ve never been good at brevity, though, and while they pack a lot into a little package, I’m all about unpacking it, exploring it, looking it over and seeing what I find inside every nook and cranny before I let go. You see, Beloved, I’ve learned that you find surprising things in small places if only you are tenacious enough to look long enough.

That, actually, is what this is all about; having the tenacity to look long enough to find something surprising. We live in an instant society, all about having what we want right now, in the moment. I wanted this song; I went to amazon.com and bought the mp3 and had it playing on my computer almost instantly. I was annoyed when I had to wait through a pre-roll commercial to get to the video on youtube when I first listened to the song. We drink instant coffee, we eat instant oatmeal, we cook minute rice and even that takes too long. It’s all about NOW.

We have no patience for delayed gratification, for things that take time to mature, to age, to come to fruition. The idea of waiting for something is foreign, and to think that we might have to persevere to have something worth waiting for is so ludicrous to the modern mindset that we can’t even wrap our brains around it. We tear through life, running faster and faster, trying to pack more into every day so that we don’t lose a scrap of time, not one moment of the mere 24 hours we are given, and cursing that we can’t get a 25^th, not for sleep, no, but to do more.

Beloved, we cannot exist this way. Our bodies were not built to be always going and never resting. We need rest. We need time to stop, to inhale, to exhale, to just be and not do. We need to spend some time, Love, or time will spend us.

More than that, we were built for relationship. You and I are social creatures, in our souls built to long for another. We have what Blaise Pascal called “a God-shaped hole”. We cannot exist as a void, alone, adrift. The movie “Up In The Air” explored this idea very well, at least on the secular level, of what it is to try to live a life completely separated from the relationships that help define and yes, give us weight… weight that slows us down as we race through our crazy lives.

Now, don’t get me wrong; the author of Hebrews talks about racing through life, too. He tells us to cast off everything that hinders us and to run with perseverance the race marked out for us. But in the same breath, he mentions casting off the sin that so easily entangles us, so he’s not suggesting that we throw away all of our relationships. He also points out that this isn’t a sprint; no, by mentioning perseverance, he understands that this is an endurance race, more like a marathon than it is a sprint or 100 meter dash. That calls for a very different approach. No short-timing here, no instant wins, no shotgun starts or snapshot finishes. No, this is the long haul. Here, just finishing is an accomplishment.

So we are creatures built for relationship, living an endurance race, and we’re all trying to sprint through a marathon on our own. Yeah, that’s not a recipe for a disaster. By the way, yes, that was sarcasm, there.

The lyricist for Death Cab For Cutie seems to have hit on a solution, whether he (or she) realized it or not. You see, as the lead singer sings “you’ve got to spend some time, Love,” he’s hit on the solution to the problem and the cry of the Creator’s heart to mankind. We have to enter into a relationship (love), and slow down (spend some time) instead of trying to rush through this marathon called life independently.

Now I’ve talked about relationships in a very general sense so far, only really hinting at the one I really want to talk about. You see, we can have a relationship with a friend, and that’s a good start. We can have a relationship with our family, and that’s better. Or our children, but they aren’t really supposed to meet our deepest needs. We could have a relationship with a lover or spouse, but even they will fall short in some way; let’s face it… if we are generous and grant that our spouse is as human as we are, then they have their bad days, too, days when their tempers are short, their moods are crappy, and they want nothing to do with us or our quirks, just like we sometimes have with them. Oh come on; admit it; there are days that the things that attracted you to your lover annoy you to no end. The same is true for them, and to deny is foolish. So even that relationship has its limits.

But there is one relationship that is built to withstand the marathon of life. You see, in our relationships, there are two imperfect people trying to maintain it. It’s hard to keep it alive. But in a relationship with God, with the Creator of all things, the Lover of your soul, you have one imperfect person – you, and one perfect – God. And the great news? He is faithful when we are not. He is loyal when we are not. Jeremiah told us that God’s love is unfailing, and His mercy is new every morning.

Even in this song, we see a portrait of God’s perfect and persevering love. We see the way He pursues us, the way He longs for us. God loved the world, we are told in John, so much that He gave His only Son, just so that anyone who believed, could have life with Him again. We are told that He loved us even before we loved Him in return, and in Romans, Paul tells us that His love is so powerful that nothing in all of the world, in all of creation, can snatch us from Him.

Oh, Beloved, hear that. God’s love is so big, so powerful, that there is nothing you can do, nothing you have done, nothing anyone can do to you, nothing anyone has done to you, nothing on earth or in hell, nothing in all the universe or polyverse, nothing can keep you from the Love of God. Nothing. Think about all the things you’ve let keep you from Him. List them out. Write them down. Look them all over. Ask yourself this: why are you letting THAT get between you and unconditional love? How could THAT ever be more powerful than Love that stepped out of eternity, into time, out of glory, into mortality, out of infinity, into infancy, out of heaven and into death and resurrection FOR YOU? That’s the Love of God, Beloved. Look at your list. Would you give that power to hold you bound for all eternity, after time is spent and gone, and you’re not counting the hours anymore? When all the minutes have clicked off the clock, is that what you want?

He is calling you. Be still, He whispers. Be still, and know, Beloved, that I am God. I am God, and I Love you. My Love is patient. It is kind. It keeps no record of wrong. It is not easily angered. It does not hate. It is gentle. It is self-controlled. It is not rude, It does not seek itself. It is does not delight in evil, but rejoices in the truth. Beloved, oh, my beloved, my Love ALWAYS trusts, always protects, always hopes, and it always perseveres. Nothing, in all of time, in all of space, in all of creation, nothing can snatch you away from Me, from My love. Look, Beloved. I stand at the door and I knock, longing only for you to let me in. I LONG for you, Beloved. My Love perseveres. If you but open the door, I will come in. You will be Mine, I will be yours, and I will possess your heart, and you will find peace you have never known, and life abundant.

There in the sparse lyrics and the driving beat, there was the most important gift you’ll ever unwrap. You’ve got to spend some time, Love. God longs for you, but once you let Him, you’ll find Him faithful; He’ll never let go of your Heart.

(Oh, and yes, I LOVE what I get to write. Thank, John, for finding this for me. WOW.)