Still the man, but you see I'm a they
A kid on the way
A family on my mind . . . “
That’s a line from Five for Fighting’s hit song, “100 Years.” It’s running through my head because I was listening to it as I was getting ready for my run this morning, and it just kept bopping through my head as I pounded out the miles.
But it’s running through my head because it applies to my life. For better or for worse, even more so than when I got married, I am giving up some of my own independence in exchange for dependence and inter-dependence.
Yesterday in church, one congregant sang a solo about being married, and the challenging but joyful realities of being bonded with another. He told us before he began that while he wrote it at first about his own marriage, the song had now taken on a greater significance, reminding him of our joint marriage as a church with Jesus Christ.
Our pastor then proceeded to pick up on the same theme, that Christian freedom isn’t independence, as much as we’d like to use those words as synonyms in this country, but rather dependence and inter-dependence. Dependence on God and inter-dependence with one another in Christian community. A comforting reality – that God has chosen us for Himself. And a challenging responsibility – that God asks us to be bound to one another.
I was deeply moved by both the solo and the sermon. And so now I have two songs and one sermon bouncing around in my head. And a family on my mind. For soon, even more so than when Amy and I got married, we are becoming a they, a they that will need to be characterized by dependence and inter-dependence.
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