You'll Never Walk Alone
A Sunday Amen
In church today, the subject was of Matthew 7:24. That whole being wise thing and building your house on a rock versus that foolish thing of building it on sand. I wrote about the sand several stories back.
Pastor went on to talk about how this last parable of the teachings of Jesus was the first time Jesus taught with authority. It’s a well known and short parable. When Jesus says the rain came, he goes on to say the rain kept coming, the streams rose, the winds blew and relentlessly they beat against the house until it fell with a great crash.
As I sat and listened again, I thought of the storms of life. Our great storm. I thought of my nana and how she had lived through so many storms. Then this song came into my head. Thankfully I was able to receive it when church was over. As I spoke with a few of the elderly people in my church, I saw the wisest among us holding their heads high and walking. They just kept walking through the storms in their lives. That was my nana, my mom and so many other people I hold dear. In a way it’s a blind trust, yet it’s the most purest form of faith one can muster up.
I remembered that this was one of my nana’s favorite songs. If I heard it growing up I would cry. I loved her so much. When she was gone I could barely listen to it. Funny how music reaches into your core and brings about the most innate feelings of love, grief and even the subtle lesson of faith.
"You'll Never Walk Alone" is a show tune from the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel. In the second act of the musical, Nettie Fowler, the cousin of the protagonist Julie Jordan, sings "You'll Never Walk Alone" to comfort and encourage Julie when her husband, Billy Bigelow, the male lead, stabs himself with a knife whilst trying to run away after attempting a robbery with his mate Jigger and dies in her arms. The song is reprised in the final scene to encourage a graduation class of which Louise (Billy and Julie's daughter) is a member. The now invisible Billy, who has been granted the chance to return to Earth for one day in order to redeem himself, watches the ceremony and is able to silently motivate Louise and Julie to join in with the song. - source Wikipedia
As I have come through one of the biggest storms of my life I realize we never walk alone. Whether we can find it within ourselves to credit God in all of this, we will look around and see that we are walking with certain people during our storms. They don’t just suddenly appear, even though it seems that way. We are known. We are known in such a way that if we open our eyes to see and our ears to listen God will try to awaken us by surrounding us with the exact people we need. We know who they are. We find they need us too.
Many times we miss the mark. We walk completely alone. People try. They fall away. When I say alone.. we push away and there is, or has been, no clarity for God in the picture. We are shut in complete darkness. Sometimes we stay there. It is a hopeless place but we are not ready to see a speck of light or hear a positive word. At the same time there can also be rejection all around us and it’s a way of stripping us down bare. This all serves a purpose. I was there. It’s real.
On this three year journey, an awakening, a community of passionate artists, grief stricken parents and friends have held me tight, prayed over me, and I them. Now we ebb and flow and push and pull each other along. Artists came and provoked me to write, then went away and came back again. There are people I met briefly, many years ago, who have been brought back into my life. Friends I hadn’t seen in years that I felt I must see, learning they are experiencing similar struggles. We have all been reaching for the common goal of healing and letting God have the relationships and situations we can’t control.
He has cleared a path in the storm when it rained and hailed down so hard I couldn’t hear… the fog so thick I couldn’t see. He gave me a partner that struggles but holds me when I cry. Loves me right where I am. He has sent hands to hold so I can say, “I understand.”
It’s an understatement to say this was a great force lifting me up. I could not shut my eyes and ears even as I was drowning on my log.
In every corner and facet of my darkness He has walked along side of me helping me to surrender to the beauty of the day at hand and embrace the storms to come.
For now, as the lyrics so beautifully say, “at the end of the storm is a golden sky and the sweet, silver song of a lark.”
It’s true. Keep your head up, build your life on the Rock and “walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart, and you’ll never walk alone..”
It’s no coincidence that I thought of my nana today, the terrible struggles, grief, and wars she lived through. Coming to America to begin a new life. With hope in her heart.
Talk about a 4'11” little lady walking…
I really like Marcus Mumford’s version of this song.← As I try and encourage you today… don’t be afraid of the dark. You can make it through.
There's always something to cling to when life seems so bitter and dark
A rainbow, a sunset, a breath of fresh air or the sweet silver song of a lark.
Hello my friend
So nice to hear healing and hopefulness in your writing. I know its been a long journey. I feel you. We never walk alone, especially in the dark. Take care. Ox