Switchfoot spoke to my heart this morning.
Shocker.
They've only been doing that since 2003.
Their new EP "Love Alone is Worth the Fight" illuminates what has been on my heart so long. In my second year of teaching, I feel as though my heart has only been ripped open more to the vulnerability that it is to experience the heartache of these teenagers and the frustrating world they live in. Simultaneously, I have a group of students this year that are particularly challenging. Attitude, and hyperactivity wise.
Yet. Every day I come home, I can't help but to remind myself... it's ALL worth it. For "love alone is worth the fight". Kudos Switchfoot for putting words to what I couldn't put words to for myself.
Switchfoot 2013
I’m trying to find where my place is
I’m looking for my own oasis
so close I can taste this
the fear that love alone erases
so I’m back to the basics
I figure it’s time I face this
time to take my own advice
love alone is worth the fight
And I never thought it’d come to this
but it seems like I’m finally feeling numb to this
the funny thing about a name is
you forget what the reason you were playing the game is
and it’s all an illusion
a 21st century institution
so I’m heading down the open road unknown
and we find what we’re made of
through the open door
is it fear you’re afraid of?
what are you waiting for?
love alone is worth the fight
we’re only here for a season
I’m looking for the rhyme and reason
why you’re born why you’re leaving
what you fear and what you believe in
why you’re living and breathing
why you’re fighting it and getting it even
let’s go headed down the open road unknown
and we find what we’re made of
through the open door
is it fear you’re afraid of?
what are you waiting for?
love alone is worth the fight
here we are here we go
where the road is our own
feel it calling you home
here we are here we go
love alone is worth the fight
Ultimately, I'm tired. I'm frustrated. I'm fighting a world that unconsciously teaches us it's okay to do whatever we want, regardless of its consequences. I'm fighting students who don't understand each other's worth.
It seems like a wash huh? Why waste my time? Why struggle and suffer when you could just pick a profession that allows you to pamper yourself? That allows you to avoid dealing with hormonal teenagers that have the capability to give you a spitting headache?
Because love for my students. Love for the Church--Christ's people--is worth it.
Love Alone is Worth the Fight.
Love Alone is Worth the Fight.
Love ALONE is worth the fight.
Who are we to say that our pain means nothing, when Christ's meant everything? That is truly the beating of my heart.
Christ's power to redeem our weakness and brokenness is everything.
I have no right to carry my burden on my own.
"For I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me." -Galatians 2:20
