Hat in Hand - SQOTW

Limited time once again, but I'll write what I can. Despite the lack of "commenting" interest I get on my Bill Mallonee song quotes of the week posts, somehow I really do feel you guys/gals brimming with internal reverence with each one (wink, wink). So I trudge onward with lyrics from this little baby:

run fast after everything
and that's just what you'll miss
live your life opened armed
or with a clenched fist
dirt lot kids doing dirt lot deeds
way too much living in the minor key
burn all these sins in a Love so grand
shuffle forward your hat in hand

-- Hat in Hand, Vigilantes of Love from the Electromeo EP

For me, the "dirt lot kids doing dirt lot deeds" line reminds me in many ways of the Ants Marching picture I get from the once-popular Dave Matthews tune. It's a topside view of the human race basically doing what we do, most of it not being so good - and I mean that from an original intent point of view.

What happens in the dirt lot? Well, there's a lot of seeking for self and fighting for your own. Each of us have our own models of what will make us successful, so dun-dun-dun-dun CHARGE!!! We go after it all, which reminds me of a lyric from another song from yet a different band - the 77s The Lust, the Flesh, the Eyes, and the Pride of Life: "I'll go to any length, sacrifice all that I have and all that I might get, just to get something more that I don't need... and Lord, please don't ask me what for." So that's what we do - we run after everything. In doing so, we miss all the things that are really important. To bring up one last song, it's The Cat's in the Cradle syndrome. And more than just the times we're negligent as parents like in that song, how many times do we miss Christ when He's asking for a drink of water? i don't know about you, but for me, it's probably countless.

But for all these times we miss the mark because we so loved ourselves, God still provided. He went to the Cross for each one of us. When Bill sings the "burn all these sins, in a LOVE so grand," I get chill bumps almost every time I listen (if I'm really listening). Because I am a dirt lot kid, and I do dirt lot deeds. Yet, Jesus still loved me. He still died for me. Open-armed, on the cross. If He did that for me, I need to do my level-best to live open-armed for Him and for others.

When I think that's a lot to ask from me, I need to remember how much it was for the living God to ask of Himself.

Bill Mallonee