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Author: Kate Murray
I love music. I often have headphones in my ears – either on the Metro or even as I work on something in my office. I rarely drive in a silent car; instead I opt for some sort of music as the ambient noise while I sit on the Beltway. And I have found that there are great songs (often those with a fast beat) to listen to while working out and some that are not so helpful (songs that would put me to sleep). Sometimes I find that I get into a musical rut and find myself listening to the same thing over and over again.
Lately, I’ve found myself listening to a lot of John Mayer. Sometime this past summer I bought his new album, Where the Light Is, and it’s been on heavy rotation through my iPod. If you’re not familiar with it, the album is a live recording from a concert in Los Angeles. In the middle of his set, Mayer plays a cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “Bold as Love.” While it is an interesting song and I like it, what captivates me every time is a brief monologue Mayer gives in the middle of the song detailing his attempts at finding meaning in life.
This is what Mayer says in the middle of the song (there’s also a video of the performace at the end of the post):
So check it out, right.
I tried every approach to living, I tried it all. I haven’t tried everything, but I’ve tried every approach. Sometimes you have to try everything to get the approach the same. But…
I tried it all. I bought a bunch of stuff, I went, no, I don’t like that. I kind of came in and out of that a couple of times.
Thought I would shut myself off. I thought maybe that’s cool, maybe that’s what you have to do to be a genius is you have to be mad. So if you can get mad before the word genius, then maybe you can make genius appear. Right? That doesn’t work either.
I’m in a good place. I’ve paced myself pretty well. I’m thirty, I’ve seen some cool stuff. Made a lot of stuff happen for myself. I made a lot of stuff happen for myself. That’s a really cool sentence when you’re in your twenties, “I made it happen for myself man.”
But all that means is that I’ve just somehow found a way to synthesize love, synthesize soothing… you can’t get that.
And what I’m saying is that I’ve messed with all the approaches except for one. And it’s going to sound really corny, but that’s just love. That’s just love. I’ve done everything in my life that I want to do except just give and feel love for my living.
And I don’t mean like a roman candle, firework, Hollywood, hot pink love. I mean like a “I got your back!” love.
I don’t need to hear I love you. You guys love me, I love you, we got that down.
Some of the people who will tell you they love are some of the people who will be the last just to have your back.
So I’m going to experiment with this love thing. Givin’ love, feelin’ love. I know it sounds really corny, but it’s the last thing I got to check out before I check out.
What Mayer says has been his journey seems to me to be a journey that many of us find ourselves on. We’re looking for something to give our lives meaning; to fill that part that just seems empty and to know that we matter. Many of us – myself included – find ourselves believing that we can buy this meaning – spending our money to acquire things we believe we need. We consume and consume – food, cars, clothing, houses, electronics – all in an effort to fill that void we feel. Sometimes it is simply out of boredom that we buy things – anything new to break the monotony.
Mayer says he’s been in and out of that a couple of times. I have too.
But what I find interesting is what Mayer then identifies as the approach to life he feels is the true approach – the one with which he will experiment: love. Not “like a roman candle, firework, Hollywood, hot pink love. I mean like a ‘I got your back!’ love.” Not those things that pretend to be love, but real, unselfish love.
And as I listen to Mayer say this, I cannot help but think the love to which he is referring is actually the kind of love God has for us. There is no more perfect, unselfish love than God’s – a love that has our best interests at heart, a love that led all the way to death. There is nothing more loving than to give up a life for the one you love – something God has done for us.
This love that God has for us is not a love that sits idly by. No, it is a love that infects us and transforms us; a love that leads directly into loving others. It is a love, that once experienced draws us in and makes us whole. It is a love that gives our lives meaning – we are worth something because we are worth that kind of love.
So perhaps Mayer has named what he needs, but without realizing that it is actually found in God – love bold enough to die on a cross. A love that is bold to take a risk, to transform our lives and our world. Bold as love.
Photo courtesy of wallyg
April 24th, 2009 at 2:23 am
very cool, thanks for hooking me up.
April 24th, 2009 at 2:25 am
very cool! thnx