popsadie
Acrobat
A reflection I made this morning on WOWY...not sure if this is in the right section....
I know that the grand majority of u2 fans have viewed WOWY as a love song, but I have always seen it as a spiritual song. Actually, two days ago I saw it as both. I realized that my spiritual struggle and my relationship struggle were more similar than different. Both involved trust and my ability and willingness to surrender. My simultaneous fear and desire to submit to God is quite similar to my desire to love and submit to my husband and an accompanying feeling that I could lose my self and my identity in the process.
I have read through interpretations of this song in the past and have noticed that they only see this song as having two characters. Most interpretations seem to see the "you" and "she" as the same thing, but I have never understood this. The thorn twists in the side of the "you" while the "she" has him with nothing to win. The "you" is portrayed as someone who "gives his/herself away" while the "she" ties his hands and puts him on an ironic bed of nails. To me, the "you" is a self sacrificing, loving character while the "she" is a self, lustful, tempting, but ultimately destroying character. Caught in between the two is the narrator.
I think I started crying two days ago because I saw myself as the narrator in this song. In both my relationship with Christ and my husband I find myself daily fighting the "she's" in my life and in my heart. Sometimes I find myself overwhelmed with gratitude and love to God or my husband and find the she's weakened in my life, but sometimes the "she's" seem more real. Sometimes the temptation to depend on money or the applause of man seems stronger than the sacrificial love I know Christ extends for me. Sometimes my prior dreams and my desire for independence seem stronger than my desire to do what I can to love those I dearly desire to.
With or without you...I can't Live with or without you. I think this is true. One cannot serve two masters...I can not serve myself and my fantasies and truly love others. I cannot live in the flesh and live in the spirit. One must die. Recently I read in Galatians 5-24 "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there". I know that this is ultimately true....but there is a part of me that is afraid of it....choosing crucifixion was not easy for Christ to do. He knew that it ultimately had to be done, but also asked his father if He could "take this cup away from him". My sinful nature knows not what love is....only fear and the constant search to devour...yet is seems better equipped to deal with this evil and faithless world. Conversely, the tools of love, of God- forgiveness, meekness, humility seem at odds with this selfish world.
So...going back to the song...what seems to be the final choice made by the narrator? Although this ending is not on the recorded version, most live versions end with "we'll shine like the stars in the summer night...we'll shine like the stars in the winter light...one heart, one hope one love" This tells me, that in the songs struggle between long term love and temptation, that love wins out. May I persevere so that my story ends that way too...and that the stories of those I love end that way.
I know that the grand majority of u2 fans have viewed WOWY as a love song, but I have always seen it as a spiritual song. Actually, two days ago I saw it as both. I realized that my spiritual struggle and my relationship struggle were more similar than different. Both involved trust and my ability and willingness to surrender. My simultaneous fear and desire to submit to God is quite similar to my desire to love and submit to my husband and an accompanying feeling that I could lose my self and my identity in the process.
I have read through interpretations of this song in the past and have noticed that they only see this song as having two characters. Most interpretations seem to see the "you" and "she" as the same thing, but I have never understood this. The thorn twists in the side of the "you" while the "she" has him with nothing to win. The "you" is portrayed as someone who "gives his/herself away" while the "she" ties his hands and puts him on an ironic bed of nails. To me, the "you" is a self sacrificing, loving character while the "she" is a self, lustful, tempting, but ultimately destroying character. Caught in between the two is the narrator.
I think I started crying two days ago because I saw myself as the narrator in this song. In both my relationship with Christ and my husband I find myself daily fighting the "she's" in my life and in my heart. Sometimes I find myself overwhelmed with gratitude and love to God or my husband and find the she's weakened in my life, but sometimes the "she's" seem more real. Sometimes the temptation to depend on money or the applause of man seems stronger than the sacrificial love I know Christ extends for me. Sometimes my prior dreams and my desire for independence seem stronger than my desire to do what I can to love those I dearly desire to.
With or without you...I can't Live with or without you. I think this is true. One cannot serve two masters...I can not serve myself and my fantasies and truly love others. I cannot live in the flesh and live in the spirit. One must die. Recently I read in Galatians 5-24 "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there". I know that this is ultimately true....but there is a part of me that is afraid of it....choosing crucifixion was not easy for Christ to do. He knew that it ultimately had to be done, but also asked his father if He could "take this cup away from him". My sinful nature knows not what love is....only fear and the constant search to devour...yet is seems better equipped to deal with this evil and faithless world. Conversely, the tools of love, of God- forgiveness, meekness, humility seem at odds with this selfish world.
So...going back to the song...what seems to be the final choice made by the narrator? Although this ending is not on the recorded version, most live versions end with "we'll shine like the stars in the summer night...we'll shine like the stars in the winter light...one heart, one hope one love" This tells me, that in the songs struggle between long term love and temptation, that love wins out. May I persevere so that my story ends that way too...and that the stories of those I love end that way.
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