All Saints Day

I love music.  I assume that most people do.  There is lots of music in the Bible- harps, tambourines,  lyres and such.  Today is All Saints Day - a day when we remember our loved ones.

And so I thought of this song.  Music reaches us.  It speaks into our souls.  I find songs all the time that make me stop and think.  I heard one the other day that I really like.  Mike and the Mechanics sing In the Living Years.  Here are the lyrics:

Every generation
Blames the one before
And all of their frustrations
Come beating on your door

I know that I'm a prisoner
To all my Father held so dear
I know that I'm a hostage
To all his hopes and fears
I just wish I could have told him in the living years

Oh, crumpled bits of paper
Filled with imperfect thought
Stilted conversations
I'm afraid that's all we've got

You say you just don't see it
He says it's perfect sense
You just can't get agreement
In this present tense
We all talk a different language
Talking in defence

Say it loud (say it loud), say it clear (oh say it clear)
You can listen as well as you hear
It's too late (it's too late) when we die (oh when we die)
To admit we don't see eye to eye

So we open up a quarrel
Between the present and the past
We only sacrifice the future
It's the bitterness that lasts

So don't yield to the fortunes
You sometimes see as fate
It may have a new perspective
On a different day
And if you don't give up, and don't give in
You may just be okay

So say it loud, say it clear (oh say it clear)
You can listen as well as you hear
Because it's too late, it's too late (it's too late) when we die (oh when we die)
To admit we don't see eye to eye

I wasn't there that morning
When my Father passed away
I didn't get to tell him
All the things I had to say

I think I caught his spirit
Later that same year
I'm sure I heard his echo
In my baby's new born tears
I just wish I could have told him in the living years

Say it loud, say it clear (oh say it clear)
You can listen as well as you hear
It's too late (it's too late) when we die (it's too late when we die)
To admit we don't see eye to eye

So say it, say it, say it loud (say it loud)
Say it clear (come on say it clear)

link to the song on youtube

The chorus has an interesting line - "say it loud, say it clear, you can listen as well as you hear."  I think it simply means that if you have the gift of hearing, then you can actually listen to someone if you choose to do so.

So here is this song about our parents and how we don't get them and we fight them, and then one day we become them.  Oh my, this is so my experience.  And how I wish I could say thank you to my Dad while he was still alive- in the living years.

My parents died fairly young.  Mom at 61, Dad at 72.  If your parents are living, call them and tell them that you love them.  Do it while you still can.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.