A Song In My Head

Sometimes I can feel a bit overwhelmed by life. I seem to be in one of those places right now. Just a bit overwhelmed. While I am not really very fond of times like these, God does speak to me in them. That is, if I am listening...

A couple events happened this weekend that God used to get my attention. Let me explain.

As a family, we played The Game of Things together on Friday night. (If you haven't had a chance to experience this game yet, you should. It's really a lot of fun to play, especially with your family!) Anyway, during the game, one of the cards that we were to provide an answer for said, "Things that don't stop." Someone in our family answered, "The song in my heart." I thought to myself as we were playing, do I have a song in my heart? And frankly, I had to admit that I didn't. There hadn't been too many songs in my heart lately. When you are feeling a bit overwhelmed, the ability to have songs in your heart kind of goes away.

Then on Saturday when I was out and about running errands (trying to catch up on all the things that I had not had time to do lately because of feeling a bit overwhelmed!), I heard a great song on the radio. I particularly noticed the chorus, and that chorus kept playing over and over again in my head. Not much time passed before I heard the same song again on the radio, twice in a short amount of time! I guess God wanted me to hear it.

So, while I might not have had a song in my heart for awhile due to feeling a bit overwhelmed by life, I do have a song in my head. And that song is Matthew West's "The Motions." The lyrics are quite sobering. They seem to be the words of someone else who was also feeling a bit overwhelmed by life. Read them below and then reflect on what they are saying.


This might hurt, it's not safe
But I know that I've gotta make a change
I don't care if I break,
At least I'll be feeling something
'Cause just okay is not enough
Help me fight through the nothingness of life

I don't wanna go through the motions
I don't wanna go one more day
Without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,
"What if I had given everything,
Instead of going through the motions?"

No regrets, not this time
I'm gonna let my heart defeat my mind
Let Your love make me whole
I think I'm finally feeling something
'Cause just okay is not enough
Help me fight through the nothingness of this life

'Cause I don't wanna go through the motions
I don't wanna go one more day
Without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,
"What if I had given everything,
Instead of going through the motions?"

Take me all the way (take me all the way)
Take me all the way ('cause I don't wanna go through the motions)
Take me all the way (I know I'm finally feeling something real)
Take me all the way

I don't wanna go through the motions
I don't wanna go one more day
Without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,
"What if I had given everything,
Instead of going through the motions?

I don't wanna go through the motions


Listening to this song really made me think. Am I just going through the motions in life right now? If so, what a terrible thing to admit to. Honest, but terrible.

Then I had to remind myself that sometimes when I am feeling a bit overwhelmed, that is all I am able to do - just go through the motions. Sometimes I need to make changes to simplify my life in order to get out from under the feelings of being overwhelmed. Then, if I keep things simple for awhile and wait, the rest of me has a chance to catch up, allowing me to once again experience life more fully again.

Jesus said in John 10:10, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly."

An abundant life isn't one that overwhelms you.

It is easy for me to get out of balance in life. Sometimes I just need a song in my head to remind me that overwhelmed with life is not where I want to be.