I woke up this morning with a song in my head. This happens once in a while for me. I don’t know about you. It was by a group called Lake Street Dive, the song name being Bad Self Portraits.
The song is solid and lead singer Rachel Price has a fantastic voice. Hers is full, at times gritty and soulful of the type that I have always gravitated toward. From the legendary Bonnie Raitt to the tragedy that was Amy Winehouse to the romping blues queen Koko Taylor and to the aflame Christian songstresses Lauren Daigle and Liz Vice (who I listen to most these days), a strong female voice has always caught my ear.
The somewhat bizarre part is that I only heard Lake Street Dive and Bad Self Portraits, which by the way is a very good tune, for the first time less than a year ago, randomly playing music on my Amazon account. I added it to one of my playlists. I’ve not listened to the tune more than a dozen times since then. If that. Whereas others I I’ve listened to hundreds of times probably. Some maybe more. So why that song in my head when I woke up?
Who knows why?
One of the last times this happened was equally odd: it was Godzilla, by Blue Oyster Cult. A song from my late teen years. I woke up to the refrain:
“Oh, no. There goes Tokyo, Go, Go Godzilla..”
I never really even liked that tune. It’s a pretty dumb song in every way and I haven’t heard it in many years. Yet there it was, playing in my head as I came to consciousness one morning.
I usually don’t try to make sense of things like these that occur to me. Things like coming across the name Reginald three times in one day on separate occasions or seeing two 1968 Chevy Chevelles on the road on a given day. The odds of those things happening are just too zany to consider. Just weird, randomness.
In this case today though, I did sort of zero in on the Bad Self Portraits part. I don’t think it was a “special message” from God or anyone. It just got me to thinking about not only the things that enter our minds, but those things we tend say about ourselves as well as other “voices” we hear or are subject to. What they say about us. And how very different they are from what God says to us and about us.
All The Voices
The brain, intertwined with our soul, our true “me”, is an amazing thing, when you really consider it. The brain, among other things, is an incredible repository of memory. Memory that also associates other thoughts, experiences and feelings. Even smells and other senses.
I have memories of my parents’ words and voices that can come back crystal clear. There are cartoons and TV ads from my youth that I can recall perfectly. There are some voices from my elementary school teachers I still remember very well.
The same goes for music, an especially indelible thing. Not only do we hear it, but music has a “spirit” aspect to it. It touches not only our intellect, but also our “soul” in very many cases. Sometimes quite deeply. Our brains seem to take special note of this and connects it to many aspects of our overall thought which it feeds back to our soul, or our inner “me”.
Music, art and words (books, ideas, etc.) have shaped generations and even toppled kings and governments. Formed new ones. All of them are in one way or another, a “voice” or an expression. This has been the case since forever.
Then roughly sixty years ago or so, which is a blip time-wise in history, the onset of “mass media” began with the widespread adoption and use of TV and radio. By the early sixties, just about every home had at least a radio, if not a TV. Things that blared voices, words, ideas, art and music.
And were all the time selling you something. Or mostly. Things that would make you happier, more attractive, more “good”, in whatever form or aspect that may take. Advertisers and marketers play on our desire to feel or be seen as “good”.
In the last twenty five years, we had computers which were at first ugly, gnarly beasts that needed a desk, and have transformed today into sleek little deals that slide easily into our pockets. They’re called “phones” but they really are far more than that.
These “phones” or mini computers we are continually attached to, that are quite powerful, feed us messages and ideas, while giving away all sorts of information about us we have no idea about (to God knows who) and then also allows us access to messages of art, ideas, music, images and words like nothing else ever has before. And something is always being sold to us. Always.
The Emergence Of The “Me” Generation
The Novelist and culture observer Tom Wolfe coined the term “Me Generation” in the mid 1970’s, but it had its beginnings a few years before. Here is what Wikipedia says about the “Me Generation”:
“The "Me" generation is a term referring to Baby Boomers in the United States and the self-involved qualities that some people associate with this generation. […] The phrase caught on with the general public, at a time when "self-realization" and "self-fulfillment" were becoming cultural aspirations to which young people supposedly ascribed higher importance than social responsibility”.
There was another word that appeared around this time. “Deserve” became a new marketing buzzword. Companies advertised and marketed the idea that “you deserve…” Fill in the blank. The earliest example of this that I know of was McDonalds. Their message was “you deserve a break today”. Below is a clip of that famous ad campaign.
By the way, note that the great actor John Amos (Good Times, Roots, etc.) appeared in this ad. He’s second from the right at the end of the clip.
The message you could say was directed to stay at home moms with kids, which there were tons of in 1971. But also to anyone else that yearned for a “break”, whatever that could have applied to. The point was you deserved a break today.
From then on, advertising messages increasingly were telling you that you deserved x, y and z and more. Ranging from a cheeseburger to sex. Everything became focused on the “self”. There was even a magazine, which I believe is still in print today titled “Self” that debuted in 1979.
This period also marked the rise of eastern philosophies/religions (mostly from India) that through Yoga and other related practices, a person could find their “inner selves” and that this would bring them peace and contentment, to keep in short.
We (meaning in America and Western Europe) have been increasingly bombarded with marketing, advertising messages focused on “self”. Yoga and others (I could list them all, but would take too long) got in the game, and then of course certain philosophical, sexual liberation and political ideas, all of them are telling us that we deserve, even have the express right, to be totally at peace, totally equal, totally happy. All the time.
That what makes us feel good is paramount. Truth increasingly has taken a back seat to individual desire of the self.
Reality is quite different, though. And most folks know this, even if they are seized by the non-stop messaging of spiritual, social or political false nirvanas and cures and solutions that will make us feel better. But it seems a growing number are buying these ideas and seeing themselves in them.
Then a decade and a half ago, or so, “social media” arrived. And many, many people began creating their own “self-portraits” online. The race to define and promote “self” was put into overdrive.
The Self Portraits We Create And Present
There are a lot of people who are keen to present an image of themselves to the outside world; friends, family and associates, that depicts their life as being near or moving towards a happy, perfect or near perfect place.
Whatever they perceive as being that “place”. It could be in a bar full of drunk people. It could be on a mountain in Hawaii. It could be a picnic in a botanical garden. It could be on a church retreat. It could be riding a Yak in Mongolia. It could be at the Kentucky Derby or Super Bowl. It could be on a white sandy beach. It could be with friends around a table. The situations and variations are endless.
I can’t but help but think here of the song by R.E.M., Shiny Happy People.
Anyway.
There’s also a lot of folks who will make certain statements or be seen in certain circumstances that promote or give the idea that they are “good”. Who doesn’t want to be good? Well, there are some who could care less, I suppose. Some (relatively few) muddle on being non-good or just plain wicked and seem not to care what you think.
But what is the idea of “good” and where does that come from? From what is popular? What is trendy? What is “good” really all about anyhow?
Some people get all tied up in political or philosophical or other stuff and put forth an image to align themselves with that strain of thinking or ideas. They get very stuck on being “right”.
Sure, you could think similarly of me. I don’t care so much about being “right”. I’m just all about Love and its source. Politics, I mean I don’t very much care about that either. It’s all posturing and imaging for power mostly by people suited and often desperate for it. I get that. But real Love doesn’t seek its own. It’s always about the other. Not the “self”.
Then there are many who don’t post online, who don’t even try to project an image of being “happy” and/or “good” or anything for that matter. They just don’t give a crap about being “online”. My brother is like that. He has zero time for anything online, other than what absolutely is necessary. Getting an email or text from him is a major event.
Even people who don’t put forth an online image or “portrait” of themselves and their lives, many of them create an image of themselves they want the world to see. This can take many forms.
The point is that no matter what sort of image we “curate” or not, no matter how positive and bright we try (or not) to assemble it, the portraits we create or see ourselves in are always far short and with many more fault lines than we’d like to admit or acknowledge. Often what we put forward are just bright specks in an otherwise murky existence. For whatever reasons.
It’s our murkiness that we deal with mostly. And no matter what sort of portrait we paint, post online, photograph or otherwise create, we can’t escape it. The murk is our own faults, confusion, error and yes, sin.
And, more importantly, it’s an apartness from who we were intended to be.
God’s Portrait Of Us
Well now, if you don’t believe or accept that God exists, then I suppose the foregoing I’ve stated as well as what I proffer further will have little impact upon you. But if you’ve read this far, maybe you might just could stick around some. I think you will, if you’ve come this far.
I hope so anyhow.
Imagine you had a house with a good sized fireplace and mantle. On the mantle were pictures or “portraits” of people you know that have died. Mom or dad, brother or sister. Maybe a grandparent. Maybe a loved one or friend outside family. Many people have such images on mantles or other places in their homes. Why is that? Because they Love those people. That’s why.
They knew those people. Knew them well. Faults and all. They shared special times and moments with those people.
For the most part, most folks, when they look at those images, portraits, photos, whatever, they see and sense, with the departed dressed well usually, only or mostly the very wonderful aspects and peculiarly unique traits of those people that they did, and still do, Love very dearly.
People who keep such images on their mantle or on a shelf or wall, they don’t do so to recall the faults and foibles of that person. Which all of us have. But rather all the great, funny, fantastic and amazing and great things about that person.
God, on the other hand, has the full portrait of us. Everything. He created us and allowed for us to have our being in his creation. The thing is, does he know us? Or as importantly, do we know him? Has he been involved in our lives and shared all sorts of times and moments with us? Has he had a relationship with us?
God certainly loves us and wants us to know him. He knows us well. Here is some detail of the portrait God has of us.
“Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” Luke 12:6-7
God knows everything about us. The number of hairs we have. Everything. He’s known us since before we were even born.
“For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.” Psalm 139:13-14
He shares his glory with us:
“When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?” Psalm 8:3-4
His Love is shown in his complete care as Jesus told us:
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?” Matthew 6:28-30
God knows us. Every molecule, every aspect of us. And his Love toward us, for us to know and be with him, is never ending. If only we will accept it. If we don’t we dwell in the “murkiness”, even the evil of our own hearts. God desires to know us, to engage with him and be “friends”.
We are his friends, if we accept his words and believe him. Our portraits become everlasting and even growing when Jesus is our friend, our savior and Lord.
“I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” John 15:15
And not to be forgotten: We are talking the creator of all that is or ever was. The living “word” of God.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:1-5
Jesus, the son of God, came to not only save us from ourselves and the evil we’re mired in, our bad portraits, our waywardness. He has an entirely different portrait in mind for us.
The creator of all that is and ever was, the Lord of all creation offers us his hand in friendship, of Love in a relationship that will never cease. We will never be photos on a mantle. We will live with him where he is, always.
Yet, we can’t know him in a “head” sense or some philosophical way we work out in our brains.
“You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.” James 2:19
Much as in the way we love those who are near to us, we do so way inside us, in our heart, our soul. This is where Jesus wants to be also with us. That we have a relationship with him. Hearts of ours joining with his.
That God lives in us, with us. His Love walking with us through all things. Things we laugh about, cry about. Things we fear and strive for. The very hard days and the joyful ones. This is what God wants to be involved with. In all things.
We are not just a photo on a mantle to God. We are his special creation. Death has no hold or power in his kingdom. Jesus made sure of that. We live with him there. Always. When we are his “friend” and we know him.
So, back to the portrait thing. God created us and knows everything about us. He, the master painter, photographer, creator. He has this fantastic vision and ready reality for all of us.
His portrait of us is perfect. Not in perfection as we ideate it here in our current hot mess. But his perfection. One that we can only begin to know…when we know him. And he knows us.
And that is exactly why Jesus came to be with us. So that we may know him and be known of him. More than that, he showed his power of Love was stronger than death by rising three days after a horrific execution.
He laid down his perfection and glory to take on all the murkiness of our lives, the error, confusion and sin. The pains and disappointments. He took all that on himself. And he demolished the power of death by rising from it.
So that we, who did not know God, could now know him. And he could fully know us. We are now friends, very good friends with the creator of all that is.
The one who formed our great portrait in hopes that we may live in it. Here and now and then even forever with him. How great is that! Such a friend you will never find on earth.
“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 15:13
Our Self Portraits Never Come Close To His For Us
So much of what we endure every day are the voices and messages that inundate us. It is not easy to escape them. It used to be. But no longer. Those voices and messages are getting louder and with more insistence. But we can turn the squelch on them by turning them off, of course. But more, when we turn our minds and hearts towards God, all else fades.
The thing is that we trust him. Our friend, our God. He is faithful. Beyond faithful. And he will always lead us in his paths, when we look to him. His “portrait” of us, unlike our own, is one that is beyond describing.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11
When we begin to know that God’s portrait for us is so great, so amazing, it has the effect of freeing us from “self” and the worry and effort that accompany working things out on our own.
God is a giver to the fullest extent possible. Our “self” becomes less important or urgent as we are secure in him, the King of the Universe, and grow in the Love he constantly showers us with, no matter what the circumstances.
Other people increasingly become more important. We grow a need for an outlet to have God’s Love flow through us to others.
Of course we need times of comfort, of enjoyment and relaxation. We need to tend to our needs, no doubt. But more and more, we find that our real enjoyment is with and for others. And there are more people than ever before that need what God can and will do in and through us.
What we say and think about ourselves most of the time, on our own, is not very good. Or very limiting. God, on the other hand, is constantly aware of and knows all the good, greatness and joy that can be and should be part of every moment of our existence.
Get away from your own self-portrait and dwell on living portrait God has for you. It’s all throughout his word in the scriptures. Spend as much time as you can hearing what God says about you. It’s nothing but good.
It is greater, wider, more full and fascinating than anything you could assemble or even conceive of. And more than that, trust in his friendship, his Love, peace and goodness and every intention for good in your life. Especially when confronted with hard things. A truer friend you will never find.
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I’m taking a shot here. I’m gonna post two songs/videos and hope that the spam screens on your email provider’s firewall let them through. I’m doing so because the song that sorta lit the fuse for this essay (I guess) is really good and I want to share it. So here it is.
The other song, by Lauren Daigle, is so wonderful and at times will hydrate my eyes. It’s about what God says about me, about you, no matter what we feel or say about ourselves. I hope you enjoy both.