Grace

My brother blogged about this song. I can honestly say I've never paid attention to this artist and was for the most part unaware of his music. However, this song kills me. But in a totally good way.

http://mahndo.blogspot.com/2012/01/quick-thought-on-lupe-fiasco.html

I started crying while watching it. Yes, you heard me, crying. Not because of the beauty of the song, or the well done filmography, but because of what my heart suddenly felt. It's no secret that this world is a mess. Wars, famine, domestic abuse, drugs, etc. But it stays in the back of our minds for the most part. We, being North Americans, tend to live focused on ourselves, our image, our lives.  The news shows us scenes and stories of the atrocities but they lace it with pop culture news in order to dumb down the seriousness of the pain that exists outside our comfy computer screen. My mind knows this. My mind understands what poverty looks like, I've seen it. Both domestically and abroad. My mind understands violence and hate. This is not news to my mind. But my heart. My heart is naive. My heart is shattered because as sad as I am for those less fortunate, my selfishness has a way of pretending they don't exist.
This song, portrays that. It made this connection for me between my head and my heart. And that's why I cried.
The more I listened, the more I thought about Grace. I realize that I may have just lost some of you but stick with me. Christ came so that grace could be freely given. My mind, that recognizes sin exists, shelters my heart from acknowledging it. This is why Grace was given. This is why it is received. So that in my ignorance, in my blatant act of ignoring the realities that surround me, I can still be unconditionally loved. I still receive what I don't deserve. What none of us deserve. Sadly I am a product of my environment, as you all are. I'm sheltered because my whole like I've lived in middle class white suburbia. There's nothing wrong with that, but it's my world. By nature mine is an ignorant, close minded, selfish world. So as a product, and often a voluntary one, I need that Grace more than ever.
As much as I'd love to run away and make a difference, I can't. I have a life here that I love, that loves me. That needs me. But thankfully there are those fighting for peace, those speaking out about injustice and intolerance.
This seems incoherent, and I apologize. But it all comes down to this: I'm grateful for my life. But more importantly, I'm grateful for Grace. I'm grateful that this is not it. That this broken, crappy world, is not the end. It breaks me to tears to hear/see such violence and hate, but I hold onto the hope that hate will not always win, disparity will not always triumph, and pain will someday be gone. This is because of the Grace that is freely given and freely received.