I’ve decided to start a series of blessings here. You can read the first one here. So much of what we read on blogs is angry and complaining about stuff, and that’s fine, the medium lends itself to that. But ranting tends to not be a healthy activity for me. I end in cycles of complaint where I develop increasingly more eloquent ways to curse things that piss me off without actually moving past my anger. Welcome to Bitterness, population: Dan. So instead I’m going to bless various things that I have been blessed by as I become aware of them. In case you’re wondering, I did steal this idea from someone else.
So, Coldplay. Apparently it’s not cool to like Coldplay anymore. I was a late coming to them as Yellow was a slower time catching on to me, but I did catch on to Parachutes and by the time A Rush of Blood to the Head came out I was sold. I like piano and I like melody, so it was sort of inevitable that I would like Coldplay. There is something else though. Chris Martin and I are roughly the same age, and we got married around the same time, and our daughters are similar ages, and our sons are similar ages as well, and while were not facebook friends or anything, I kind of feel like we’re traveling companions. While it’s not very explicit (thank goodness) the life circumstances influence the art. They have to. So I feel like the music of his band provides a soundtrack that helps me make sense of my own life.
I remember hearing Stuart Mclean talk once about how he wished that John Lennon had been around for him to grow old with. He wanted to hear what songs John Lennon would write about about middle age and life transitions and empty nesting and all of that stuff. I know how he feels. There are certain artists (Coldplay, Rufus Wainwright, Donald Miller maybe, ) that I feel privileged to share the planet with, and I hope they remain vital and writing songs and books for a long time.
So thank you Chris Martin and Coldplay, for giving me music to rock out to, to unwind with, words to sing to my daughter. Besides legally purchasing your albums, I give you this blessing
” ‘ “The LORD bless you
and keep you;
the LORD make his face shine upon you
and be gracious to you;
the LORD turn his face toward you
and give you peace.” (Numbers 6)
