If grace knows my name ...

Blindfolded

I transcend time
with my words
, I'll build
a house for you and I

We will live there; together
Alone in surreal lives

Do we just exist?

And does love persist?
The questions of purpose and loving of destiny
Our conquest for bliss is

as much hit or miss
/
as it is skimming
the fat off our beliefs

(Refrain)

I walk around blindfolded
Talk

I'm not listening
I read through a thousand books
But, forgot everything

If grace knows my name
Then I am to blame
Constantly spreading

My fear and my shame

The story exists

It's an option that ticks
But still my tongue cannot be trusted
It's so poetic
Like a black widow's kiss
Trembling as my muscles give

(Refrain)


I found out the proof itself

Was
Not foolproof
I leave my mind daily

But
You never see me move
Never see me
move
Never see me move ...

- The Classic Crime


I was introduced to the above song by my sister. She loved it first, then let me fall for it as well. Go listen to it; the song has a haunting quality that strains your ears to find hidden meaning behind the lyrics. I'm never ready for it to be over when the final notes abruptly stop. There's things that I can take out of the song personally and apply, yet so much that also makes me want to know just what exactly the author of the song is really saying. It's personal and versatile at the same time.

The line, "If grace knows my name, then I am to blame, constantly spreading my fear and my shame," somehow makes me think of the song "Hallelujah", made famous by the late Jeff Buckley. In "Hallelujah", the singer mournfully tells of faith and love, things he's seen and known but now believes to be simply a "cold and broken hallelujah". In both songs, there is a deep yearning for something more. Something real and meaningful. Both songs have a broken, empty feel to them, while at the same time, spilling over the brim with emotion, experience, keen longing, hope, and yes, meaning.

"But still my tongue cannot be trusted". In "Blindfolded", the singer takes us through a beautifully imagined future: "I'd build a house for you and I, We would live there, together", painting a lovely picture, before continuing with, "Alone in surreal lives". He follows with hapless questions of existence, love, and purpose. Haven't we all been there? Haven't we all imagined a bright future, and all come crashing down to some place of rugged reality? Asking, "What's the point?" "Our conquest for bliss is as much hit or miss as it is skimming the fat off our beliefs."

So: what is the point? "Do we just exist?" Emphasis on Just. If we "read through a thousand books but forgot everything", then what's the point in reading them at all? Where is the purpose and meaning? "If grace knows my name ..."

The point is, Grace does know our name. My name, your name, everyone who's ever been and ever will be is known by the grace of God. No matter how much we spread our "fear and our shame", God is there to wipe it clean with His impenetrable grace and mercy. There is nothing that is not made right. In the song "Grace" by U2, Bono thoughtfully sings, "Grace finds beauty in everything".

As I mentioned before, when I listen to "Blindfolded", I'm never ready for the song to be over. I want it to wrap up with a positive note of hope at the end. But it doesn't. "I found out the proof itself is not foolproof", is about as hopeless at you can get. Then again, sometimes we have to wait and listen for a second song to play, before we can realize what is foolproof. I did, four years ago, when the beautiful future I thought I was going to have fell away and left me blaming myself, hurting myself, and wondering if I would ever feel joy again. The unrelenting goodness of God's grace is that yes, we will feel joy again. We will be made whole again. That's what will always be foolproof; the truth that is singing along with us, waiting for the moment when we'll stop and truly listen.

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