What song are you singing?

If you read this blog often, you have probably noticed that I like music. A lot. The fact that my ability to carry a tune is anything but consistent, I can only kind of read music, and get teased about my musical taste mercilessly makes no difference. I love music. A testimony to this fact is that whenever I can't think of something to blog about, I just post a song I'm listening to. (Oops... the secret is out.)

In light of my irrepressible love of music, it may not be hard to believe that I often listen to music to help me process difficult circumstances. Looking back, I often relate certain periods of my life or experiences with a song that helped me during that time. Maybe you have noticed this, because sometimes I post those thoughts. Like this song (explained here), this song, this song (explained in this post), my year in songs, and many more.

Maybe you are the same way. I don't know. The thing is, sometimes there is an inner-battle. A battle of definitions. How I will view a situation. And this is most easily seen in my song choices for that period of time. Which song defines this situation?

So the question becomes, in hard situations, which song are you singing?

I've had situations like this. The difficult circumstance that comes to mind is that of rejection. When you aren't accepted. When someone else is chosen above you. When it seems like everyone else is better and you don't stand a chance. Rejection, regardless of the circumstances surrounding it, is a bitter pill to swallow.

Not getting into your top-choice, selective college. Not being chosen for a scholarship. Not getting the position you wanted. Being the last person chosen for a sports game. Having an application rejected. Not selling that piece to a publication. Getting a C.

It is hard to feel like you don't measure up, aren't good enough, or are eclipsed by someone else.

I had a circumstance like that recently and it immediately became a battle over my perception of the situation. I had not gotten what I wanted. What would my attitude be?

This battle was epitomized in two songs.

The first is a song by a band I don't even listen to regularly. The only reason I knew the song was because I had heard it what seemed like a thousand and one times a day as my brother learned it for his upcoming drum recital. (Yes, the do have recitals for drum students.) The song, All the Right Moves by OneRepublic, is about how people compare themselves to others.

It was tempting, at the time, to use this song to define this disappointment.

All the right friends in all the right places, so yeah, we're going down. They've got all the right moves in all the right places, so yeah, we're going down.

Sure felt that way. It felt like everyone else knew just the right moves, just the right things to say, and I didn't stand a chance. It was tempting to feel like this was just my own inherent inferiority. Haven't we all felt that at times? Felt like everyone just has something we don't have. That life is a game and someone else is holding all the cards, while we are left standing there with a couple of spades. (Sorry for the deck of cards reference. I promise I don't gamble.) Everyone else has the looks, the speech, the money, the social graces. And we... well... don't. Never have, never will. Better luck next time, loser.

Frankly, everything I just said in the last paragraph is just a lie. Believable, pervasive, even natural, but still a lie.

It's easy to believe because there is strands of truth woven in. I believe that man is fallen, inherently sinful and imperfect. I'm certain that apart from Christ we are nothing. But believe that you somehow less than every other person on this earth? A loser who will never amount to much? No way.

It's everywhere, because, for some reason, it is part of human nature to play the comparing game. I think it's especially prevalent among young women, but really, it probably applies to everyone. Who hasn't compared themselves with someone who they think is somehow "better" than them at one time or another?

But that doesn't make it right.

The second song has been playing on Christian radio a lot lately. Which is a good thing, because we all need to be reminded of these truths quite regularly. Blessings, by Laura Story, is a beautiful song. And, in this circumstance, offers perhaps a more truthful view of these situations.

As I struggled and prayed, this song posed a question that drastically changed my view of these times.

What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise?
What if my greatest disappointments, or the aching of this life,
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can't satisfy?

Instead of defining difficult situations by human terms-- our inadequacies, mistakes, or other people-- what if we saw it all from the perspective that our God is in control? Doesn't He love us? And didn't He promise that all things work together to the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose? Maybe, just maybe, all these things that hurt us are just part of His continuing work to make us more like Christ. And isn't that, after all, far better than earthly happiness, riches, and position?

Maybe, when things don't go our way, we aren't missing out or being left behind. Maybe, as Laura Story says, "love is way too much to give us lesser things."

It's not that things went wrong. It's that God has something infinitely better for us.

So when we don't get what we think we want or deserve, or hard times threaten to break our faith, what song will we be singing? Will we start singing the blues? Or will we bring praise? Blessings or All the Right Moves? Will we moan about how hard our lives are or wait expectantly to see what better things God has in store for us?

What song are you singing?