Daily Word of Grace # 210 (January 5, 2021)
In the fall of 2005 I saw Coldplay live in concert in Northern Virginia. One of the many anthemic songs they played that night was a ballad of hope, a song called “Fix You” that was written by the whole band. It begins with Chris Martin playing the organ and singing: “When you try your best but you don’t succeed, when you get what you want but not what you need, when you feel so tired but you can’t sleep, stuck in reverse. And the tears come streaming down your face when you lose something you can’t replace, when you love someone but it goes to waste, could it be worse?” Who cannot relate to at least some of that (or in my case, at different times in my life, all of it)? Then comes the hope filled chorus, “Lights will guide you home, and ignite your bones, and I will try to fix you.” The song reaches a cathartic climax that left many of us in the crowd with tears and goosebumps, because “Fix You” is a song to which everyone can relate. It points to the gospel because the love of God meets us when we don’t succeed, when we lack what we actually need, when we can’t sleep, when we’re stuck in reverse—and the love of God meets us when tears stream down our face and we have lost something we can’t replace and we love someone but it goes to waste and when things could not be any worse. And yet that is when the love of God in Jesus Christ, who identifies himself as the Light of the World (John 8:12), reassures us that he will guide us home and that God will do whatever “fixing” needs to be done—and this good news can indeed “ignite our bones” so that we can press on.
Love and Prayers,
Dave