Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutesFive hundred twenty-five thousand moments so dear
Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure, measure a year?
These are lines from a famous song from RENT, a musical I love. Such an admission will probably alienate half of the folks that read this blog, but it’s true nonetheless. Though the story is admittedly a bit dark, I think it is a beautiful portrayal of community, love and acceptance.
These are lines from a famous song from RENT, a musical I love. Such an admission will probably alienate half of the folks that read this blog, but it’s true nonetheless. Though the story is admittedly a bit dark, I think it is a beautiful portrayal of community, love and acceptance.
The song goes on to list the many ways we might measure our time…
In daylights – in sunsets
In midnights – in cups of coffee
In inches – in miles
In laughter – in strife
Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
Five hundred twenty-five thousand journeys to plan
Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure the life of a woman or a man?
in truth that she learned
or in times that he cried
in bridges he burned
or the way that she died
At the end of our lives, how will we decide or will others decide, how well we did on our journey? After the questions and wondering, the songwriter concludes that maybe there is a better measure of our lives.
How about love?
Of course as a Christian, I am sold out to the idea that this is definitively the way we should evaluate our lives. Remember that when Jesus was questioned about what the greatest thing is, he said, “Love God and love others”.
In RENT. a small group of artists clung to each other like their life depended on it…because it did. They offered each other grace, and unconditional acceptance. They loved without judgment because they recognized what many of us in the church have yet to realize – we need each other desperately.
January is almost gone and I am guessing many of us have already abandoned our New Year’s resolutions. So why not make a new one? Why not resolve to love more and better in 2011?
Why not set a real goal, an eternal goal to measure our time in LOVE. What would it mean id if love became the rubric by which we really measured our lives?
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24 comments:
I'm sure the world would be a much happier and less confusing place if we all lived and measured with love! Lovely post.
Thanks Karson. I am afraid that love has become little more than a buzz word in many Christian circles instead of THE thing we should be focusing on. Love God...love others. Wow,now THAT could take a lifetime to get right!
I have to admit that I've never really seriously considered the lyrics to this song...I've heard it mocked several times...so I'm kind of amazed how much i like them. Thank you for presenting it this way. I love it when you talk about Love, Beth, and my heart always seems to crave the reminder...like duh...oh right. That's what I'm here for!
Hey Stephanie...I guess I hope that if we keep reminding each other, maybe we will get closer to getting it right! And it takes constant reminders to keep the practice in the forefront of our consciousness. Thanks for stopping by...I always love your comments.
I tried to bring some joy to someone today. I hope it worked.
Me too! But the truth is, all we can do is give...and release :)
lovely writing. thank you for sharing this
F. (opinionslave.blogspot.com) x
Thank you for the thoughtfulness and creativity here. The love, yes, definitely the love that was given through them. In the end that's all that matters, it's all that ever did. Thank you, peace and all good things for you in creativity and in life.
Sincerely,
Diane
Oh my gosh I love RENT it's one of my favorites! The lyrics and story are beautiful. Great post! =)
love this mucical, love this song. love this post.
ationBeth, is it not better to live in the moment than to count the seconds? anticipation is the antithisis of love is it not? we can not hope for love, we can only experience it.
Anon -
Thanks for your comments. I think we are definitely thinking along the same lines.
It is not simply a matter of counting the seconds but to be aware that IN all the seconds...IN all the moments...with the thousands of way we might measure how well we have lived, love is what we should focus on.
Anticipation as the antithesis of love?? ....hmmm....interesting.
Maybe.
Certainly to only dream, wish and hope will not satisfy our craving for love. But if we are always conscious to look for it and value it, then hopefully we can fully experience it when it shows itself.
lovely post!!
I tried SO HARD not to have a heart attack when I read this because I love RENT so much!!!
Great choice of lyrics.
"Look, I find some of what you teach suspect because I'm used to relying on intelect. But I try to open up to what I don't know because reason says I should have died three years ago."
This blog really caught my eye. I loved how you used Seasons of Love to post that! Great job.
Now that song is stuck in my head!
Girl -
Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. I would love to hear more about what you mean about relying on intellect and how that is antithetical to some of my thoughts.
Always, always, always interested in other perspectives.
And that song stays stuck in my head quite a bit!
Peace.
Problem is when you love someone, by default in your mind some expectation grows. And if that not fulfilled, you get hurt.
I also love the musical, Rent, and the song you quoted in your blog is just wonderful. Thank you for making my day brighter...
I measure eternity as the time it took me to wear this hideous leisure suit I'm sporting here in this profile pic.
I don't see how you've gotten anything Christian-related out of watching the film, "Rent". This film promoted way too much immoral lifestyles and content that a Christian shouldn't take part of.
Thank you for this.. I enjoyed reading your blog! Sometimes we do need to be reminded to slow down and appreciate the moments we have with eachother.
http://workingrl1975.blogspot.com/
Thanks to all of you who stopped by and enjoyed the post.
Joe: your comment made me laugh out loud!
Centralist: Thanks for your comment. I am certainly not endorsing nor encouraging immoral content that is present in the movie. But I do believe that God’s truth can be found anywhere and should be named as such when we see it. God is love….and loving extravagantly and in the context of community is God’s idea. So, when we see it displayed – even in environments we may not like – I have to believe there is something of God present there.
Great post. This is something we all need to think about often.
nice words for new beginning 2011, but now its the end of the year, but i still can't found out "what I'm looking for"....don't be confuse...i just like your writing...
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