Day 10: Shake it up

Sometimes when I check in with God for guidance about the day's post for our 40 Days of Faith adventures, I'll think of a song. And 9 out of 10 times when I look up the lyrics, that song will have some message in a line or two that I hadn't noticed before, that speaks with an eerie sort of precision to the topic of the day.

Today when I checked in, I heard Shake It Up by the Cars. I don't even like that song, so I figured it must be filled with some Divine meaning I'd overlooked...

Or not. Maybe I'm missing something, but from what I can tell it's just a song about dancing. All night. To the beat. There's encouragement to whirl your hair. But that's about it.

I'm laughing as I type, thinking about how absurd this sounds (and that if you'd told me back in law school that someday I'd be writing in a public forum about how God speaks to me through song lyrics, I'd have backed away slowly and stopped returning your calls). But I'm also thinking about communication--and miscommunication--in relationships generally. Have you ever heard a friend mention something and think it's a big deal, only to learn later that it was just a passing comment? I can easily think of 1,001 things guys said to me over the years that I accorded WAY more weight and meaning than intended. And anytime my parents said, "Maybe--we'll think about it..." I determinedly heard "Yes, Trish, of course you can go to that party!"

We have translators in our brain that filter what we hear, and a sorting system that prioritizes input in ways we're not always conscious of. (Let me pause here to say that I'm no scientist. I have no idea whether or not we actually have translators and a sorting system in our brains. But clearly some sort of process is going on in there, and it works in a way we don't entirely control.) Sometimes we get it right, other times not so much.

I don't always know what to do with this, but it's been helpful sometimes to back up and take things at face value, rather than plumbing them endlessly for deep meaning. For example, how do I know God's message to us today isn't to shake it up? Maybe we'll each have an opportunity today to dance--literally, metaphorically, on the inside, who knows?--that we'll be tempted to pass by so as not to rock the boat. What if God really is saying, as clearly as he can so I won't miss it, Shake It Up!

Today, I'll try to keep my eyes & ears open for chances to do just that. For all of us, why don't we take this as an opportunity to check in with God to ask if we've missed the point about anything--with him, with friends, with other relationships. Let's ask him to help us understand the real meaning behind things we've mis-filtered & mis-sorted, and how to respond. The Cars say not to worry about my two left feet...but God knows I can't not worry about anything without his help. :)

Share: what song is going through your head right now?