Leslie, my wife, sent me a song a while back. We had been enduring a bit of the difficulties of ministry and the messiness of life, and the song fit right into those feelings of weariness but with a willingness to keep walking forward.
“Blood and Tears”, by the band Joseph (a Pacific Northwest band I once shared a stage with, but that is another story), is a heartfelt anthem that realizes the difficulty life can bring to a relationship. “We’ll say it wasn’t easy. No, it was never easy.” Despite the difficulty the singers promise to push on with full knowledge of what could be ahead. “I will stay ‘til the end of the line.”
I think this song sits in the context of the band members, three sisters, knowing the difficulty that being in relationship doing music together will bring but resolving to plow forward anyway. “If it will be a fight regardless I only want the fight to be with you.”
I can also see this song fitting nicely in the idea of vowing in marriage—till death do us part.
With my first listen, however, my imagination and heart were drawn to viewing the road of ministry and loving the church. I was in a particularly hard spot. This song had a resolve that sounded familiar. The road is difficult and sometimes the Church does not want to be loved. Other times the messiness of life gets too close, discomfort seems to encroach at every corner, and, if you are honest, there are circumstances that make you want to sit down and give up.
This song spoke right into that vulnerability. It did not avoid the reality of pain but proclaimed its anthem anyway. I deeply appreciate that kind of perspective. There is an arduous road with a glorious end ahead. Glorious…but this road is arduous nonetheless, especially when you pursue meaningful relationship. If you trudge through with that end in mind you can look back and wonder how it is you got there. Much of it is the grace the Holy Spirit dispenses in the midst of hard times. It is often difficult to notice or see the grace through the blood and the tears, but when it’s over, you can look back and see that the journey was worth it. It is worth it because the relationship with the person laboring beside you is strong and ultimately because you are walking toward the Kingdom together.
If you are walking through a tough spot or you want a song to help the next time a mountain blocks your path, I think this one is worth a listen.