Now, you may or may not know that Casting Crowns is my favorite group. You may or may not know that I have almost every song memorized by heart, and often meditate on the meanings behind each song. You may or may not know that it's Casting Crowns songs that cause me to have a lot of those "face plant" moments that I talk a lot about on here. You may or may not know that this was my very first Casting Crowns concert, and you may or may not know that I had a "face plant"/"Wow, God" moment during this concert.
Their new album, Thrive, is an emotionally-charged album full of reflective works as well as those that speak downright truth with no holding back. One of my most favorites from this new album is the song "Just Be Held." I'm confident that if you read some of their lyrics, you too will love this song:
[ So when you're on your knees
An answer seems so far away
You're not alone,
Stop holding on and just be held
You're world's not falling apart
It's falling into place
I'm on the throne,
Stop holding on and just be held
Just be held ]
Those words are extremely powerful to me. I think about them often; it speaks to my life directly. I need to stop trying to hold on through my own power. God has got it all under control! I tell people that. I believe that. It's time to start acting that. I need to stop holding on and just be held in the arms of my Savior. This song is equally poignant because I wrote a song for my godson, in which, by the grace of God, I penned the words, "Rest in the peace of the Creator of the stars." Perhaps God was already preparing my heart for this Casting Crowns song; by forming a different interpretation of "being held," or better yet, to reach the understanding of in order to rest with the Creator of the stars, you have to allow yourself to "just be held."
God's been building all of these points on throughout the past few months. I am also finishing a research project, where I am discussing the simplicity of a contemporary Christian piano composer. Because of this project, I have found myself dwelling in the idea and power of simplicity. A lot of faith is so simple-- God loves us! And we need God! That's such a simple concept, and yet contains the infinite power of a relentless Savior.
But the simplicity of "just be held" didn't quite sink in until I was at the Casting Crowns concert.
If you don't know me, you don't know that I love to sing. A lot. And, as I said before, Casting Crowns is my favorite group, so I sing at the top of my capacity with unashamed release whenever I am listening to their songs. It just so happened that they sang "Just Be Held" at the concert I attended recently. I was watching them perform, reading the words off the screen, and truly entering a moment of prayer. I remember praying, "allow me to be held, Father."
As the chorus (lyrics above) reached the beginning of its first iteration, my 1-year-old godson came toddling over to me under the table in the suite we were in for the concert. He had been a ball of energy the entire night, but in that one instance he appeared very calm. As Mark Hall sang the words "Just be held" at the end of the chorus, I look down to find my 1-year-old godson reaching up at me, longing to be held. Without even thinking I bend down, scoop him up into my arms and wrap him in the biggest hug of love I could offer. I really love that little guy.
And then it hit me.
IT IS THAT SIMPLE. To just be held, you have to be willing to release control to the one who is holding you. The one who is holding you is the one who controls where you go, how long you stay there, even what you see. And that's what God is wanting. He wants control over where we go, who we see, what we see, how long we stay there... He wants COMPLETE control over our lives. Why? Because to Him, "my future is a memory" (Casting Crowns, "Already There"). He knows what He's doing. It's time to embrace the simplicity and "Just Be Held"
And so it goes...
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