Reckless Love

     Day 9! Where has the time gone? It both feels like the Media Fast has just begun (which it has) and also been going on for a month already. That's the amazing thing about spending time with God: time stops and speeds by all at once. And that's a good thing! I've been listening to a lot of worship music and really feeling the incredible power of worship in singing and music. Music has always been very meaningful to me, but it seems that this particular year has brought about a new meaning to music and the power it has to influence my thoughts and emotions.

     In my psychology class we were discussing the fact that we are not consciously aware of most of what goes into our brains. Though the unconscious is a place of our mind that is not often tapped into by our conscious, it still greatly affects our physical and mental well being, and many things we put into our brains can come out in various ways, whether we mean them to or not. That really stuck with me and I pondered how much of what was unconsciously going into my brain was positive and healthy, and how much of it (likely quite a bit more) was negative or secular. 

     This month is all about focusing on Christ and avoiding secular things (anything not focused on Christ) but it's way harder than one might think to avoid the overwhelming amount of secular everything that constantly surrounds us, especially music. The thing is, when we're not fasting from it, it's really easy to not notice how much this secular stuff surrounds us, which reinforces the statement that we really don't know what goes into our heads.

     With all this being said, I've really been trying to focus on the lyrics of the Christian music I've been listening to, and the results have been amazing. I feel uplifted, humbled, and oh so loved, because I know that every single word of every single song is true. And the few times I've gone out and heard secular songs, I tried to listen to the lyrics and think about what message they're sending, and it usually doesn't fill me with love or hope.

     I'm really glad music exists, because "where words fail, music speaks." And sometimes all it takes is a little bit of positive, encouraging music to remind us of that "overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God" (a lyric from Reckless Love, a song that's been on my heart all week - I really suggest it!!)

     This post is a little longer than I intended, but I guess that's the way it was supposed to be :) Happy fasting! And remember, God made you special, and He loves you very much!