I've been listening to "Shake it Out" by Florence & the Machine almost every day since I first discovered it. It is interesting how sometimes a secular song can reach you more spiritually than a Christian song. Now, I know that Florence & the Machine are not Christian and that it's not necessarily what the song was intended for, but it definitely reached me in a spiritual way.
The song delves into the struggle to leave the past behind, to feel held down with regrets and the feeling of carrying a great weight. The song begins with, "Regrets collect like old friends/ here to relive your darkest moments." It continues later with, "And I've been a fool / I've been blind / I can never leave the past behind." Listening to this song, you can just feel and relate to the weight she is talking about. You can feel all the feelings and memories you are still caring, the ones that hold you down; the ones that make you depressed; the ones that cause you to waste time avoiding them.
The main line in the song is "And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back/ So shake him off /oh woah" This is what got me when first listening to the song. You are carrying the devil on your back- everything that is telling you can't, that you're not worthy, that you have to live in regret, that you are not good enough, that you are not beautiful, that you are your past, that you are nothing. It would be hard to dance while carrying that much baggage. So shake it off. No doubt it will come up to haunt you every day, but every day, shake it off.
The song continues with, "I am done with my graceless heart/ So tonight I'm gonna cut it out and then restart." God gives us a chance to restart everyday. In one day we accumulate so much baggage- bitterness, jealousy, envy, insecurity, self-hatred, fear, anger, etc. I'm sure there are countless things we could name. It amazes me though that if I allow it to happen, I can renew my heart and soul every day.
I can shake the devil off everyday, I can cut out my graceless heart everyday.
She sings, "It's always darkest before the dawn." To feel and see the light that is Jesus requires first experiencing the darkness of our humanity. But the light will come, it always does, anytime you need it.
The more I reflect on these ideas, the more I struggle daily with the same feelings, the more I learn how difficult it is to truly shake the devil off. Negative feelings run deep. It's much easier to lose positive feelings, which is a sad truth. Although, it shows the need for something more powerful than ourselves to relieve us from the chains that are our own emotions. The hardest part is that it is a choice to turn to Him and find freedom. Most of the time though, it's easier to hold on to them, find means to escape them, but to never truly let them go.
I want to learn how to shake the devil off daily and mean it. I'm tired of feeling trapped by emotion, feelings, and regrets.
So I guess my question is for this musing, is What does it look like to not just escape but to find real freedom?
1 comment:
Cool song, I really like its message.
All music is spiritual in my opinion, we'll almost all music, there is Ke$ha, lol. It's amazing though how bits and pieces of the gospel are illuminated by people's stories and the songs they sing (even when its unintentional). Too often people draw lines of “secular” and “religious” when in reality God's goodness refuses to be restrained by such labels. Are we seriously going to call rainbows, the rings of Saturn, and full moons secular? God doesn't. People think of the gospels as just the stories of Matthew, Mark, and the other apostles when in reality the gospels can be the personal story of all our lives. That's where the true beauty of the bible lies, not simply in itself, but in the millions of stories, songs, and poems which reflect its inner light of hope and love.
“What does it look like to not just escape but to find real freedom?”
This song! This is what real freedom looks like. :)
The key to finding freedom is not seeking to escape from negative emotions but to resurrect them via art. That's what Florence + The Machine did without realizing it. They didn't seek to escape from their negative emotions but through feeling and compassion transformed them into the beauty of this song which touches you now. That's the power of compassion, it transforms the devil's wickedness into beautiful songs and tears of joy. Who would have thought that Florence Welch's feelings of anger, self-hatred, and regret would become your smiling glimpse of God's love. The poor devil, all his works are corrupted by God, even the tears of poets and the doubts of scientists, are resurrected by faith into songs of salvation and pillars of truth.
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