Lately, I have been spending time with fundamentalist evangelical Christians. I have really tried to like and accept them, but I am finding that my skin crawls and my muscles tighten up whenever I encounter them. I want to practice loving kindness with them--but all I can think of doing is arguing (which I have so far successfully avoided). These people are capable of such evil words and deeds because of their close-minded beliefs. I try to remind myself that their tenets are fear based and try not to let them poison me, which has served me well so far. In order to maintain the peace, I have to let them be who they are. I have to remember, in their vernacular, “perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18). I think it is best to let them be who they are and practice loving kindness at a distance . . .
That being said, I cannot escape the fact that whenever I am around them, the title and last line of this song play in my head:
Tighten Up
It's never too late I heard you say
How can you turn and go away
I'm staking my claim to some degree
Don't bring the secret home to me
Better to live than to know
Better the noise that we love than hate
Remember the moments we've got
Whenever I feel like I'm in a state
There used to be a way but there ain't no more
Tell me why because we need it
I used to run away but I can't no more
'Cause I feel that I can beat it
There used to be a way but there ain't no more
There used to be a way but there ain't no more
How can we be free? We both need each other like
Sister and brother. You mean that much to me
Better to live than to know
Better the noise that we love than hate
Remember the moments we've left
Whenever I feel like I'm in a state
There used to be a way but there ain't no more
Tell me why because we need it
I used to run away but I can't no more
'Cause I feel that I can beat it
There used to be a way but there ain't no more
There used to be a way but there ain't no more
There used to be a way but there ain't no more
Tell me why because we need it
I used to run away but I can't no more
'Cause I feel that I can beat it
I'm never gonna do what you want me to
I'm never gonna do what you want me to
No comments:
Post a Comment