One of the best songs I've heard in a long time...

I have to share this song.  It's by Mumford and Sons.  They have pretty  much become my favorite band right now.  Their songs are rich with struggle, hope, and wisdom that comes only from walking through pain.  The kinds of songs that can only come from real experiences.  There is something beautiful that these 4 guys from London do in their music not only with words but with the sounds they create musically.  It's old sounding, strong, and energetic.  It's just amazing to me.  I've put three of their songs on my playlist in the blog. You can listen to this song "The Cave".  Read and listen to this song, it's pretty much awesome.  This band is blowing the charts in Europe.  If anyone wants to buy Matt and I tickets to see them live, we will gladly take them! =)

Lyrics to The Cave :
It's empty in the valley of your heart
The sun, it rises slowly as you walk
Away from all the fears
And all the faults you've left behind

The harvest left no food for you to eat
You cannibal, you meat-eater, you see
But I have seen the same
I know the shame in your defeat

But I will hold on hope
And I won't let you choke
On the noose around your neck

And I'll find strength in pain
And I will change my ways
I'll know my name as it's called again

Cause I have other things to fill my time
You take what is yours and I'll take mine
Now let me at the truth
Which will refresh my broken mind

So tie me to a post and block my ears
I can see widows and orphans through my tears
I know my call despite my faults
And despite my growing fears

But I will hold on hope
And I won't let you choke
On the noose around your neck

And I'll find strength in pain
And I will change my ways
I'll know my name as it's called again

So come out of your cave walking on your hands
And see the world hanging upside down
You can understand dependence
When you know the maker's hand

So make your siren's call
And sing all you want
I will not hear what you have to say

Cause I need freedom now
And I need to know how
To live my life as it's meant to be

And I will hold on hope
And I won't let you choke
On the noose around your neck

And I'll find strength in pain
And I will change my ways
I'll know my name as it's called again

If you've ever gone through something really painful, ever doubted yourself, felt like a failure, struggled with shame, then you will love the song.  I've seen the hope that God gives when I've journeyed through the really hard stuff and felt like someone crawling out of it all on hands (barely feeling like I'm moving). I love the way this artist uses faults and fears in the beginning as something that he's walking away from, but later returns to them talking about them as if they never really go away.  I relate to that.  It's interesting how he equates shame with defeat.  Seems like in my personal life shame is what keeps me hidden, makes me scared to open up, fearful of taking risks in relationships for fear of really and truly being known. Bad thing about shame is it does feel like defeat. It's lonely in that place, and it gets exhausting at times.  Seems like this songwriter seems to find hope in walking out of shame. Seems like he's walking towards a relationship that is calling him by name.  That's so cool.

I think of the siren in this song as sin (at least for me), maybe he meant it as whatever difficult person or thing that was adding to the struggle.  My favorite part of the song is the part where he talks about "I'll know my name as it's called again", as well as, "You can understand dependence when you know the maker's hand.  There is something to those parts that really sit hard with me.  There is something very lonely in shame and fear, but something awesome in how he uses the word dependence.  I read a book by Dan Allander called To Be Told: Know your story, shape your future and it's about looking back in your past and thinking about the figurative names you have been called or have called yourself over the years that shape who you are today (obviously a book for the counseling program). So for example, those names may be blacksheep, screw up, ugly, beautiful, different, etc. and basically the reason why I love the verses to this song as he talked about "I'll know my name as it's called again", makes me think about the real name that God has given me, which is not bound to my mess ups, my past, my personality, or anything. I'll recognize it when God calls me by my real name in heaven, but even now I feel like I hear it at various points in my life.  But like the siren's call, there are times when I hear those other names and I listen to them again. So I love how the song says that he won't hear what the siren says.

This counseling program that I'm taking classes with (hopefully will be officially accepted into the program in the spring) is a lot of emotional work to process this school's approach to counseling. This song and most of the songs on this album feel like they grip various parts of my life and this guy sings it out like I wish I could.  I love it when a musician can do that.