The song immediately reminded me of how at times I try to cope by tuning things out. To pretend it doesn't hurt is not coping- it's hiding from the truth. The world can be a sad place at times. Women all around us are being diagnosed with breast cancer. There are wars everywhere- young men and women and children dying for what seems so fruitless. The news is rarely up lifting and drivers can seem ever so rude. Our reaction- change it? How can we change it? Admittedly, at times I feel like no matter how much of a difference I make- it won't matter. So it's easy to pull the covers over our heads... drowning it with TV...to practice deeds of selfishness instead of feeding the starving...to go numb. Do we put our headphones on because it's easier to drown out the hurt and pains of this imperfect world that we were not meant to live in? Numbness does not burn or tingle...it's painless.
However, it also does not bring joy. I think it's good for all of us to take the headphones off- to give God permission to use us to lift the sadness in the lives of those around us- whether strangers next door or across the globe or our most loved. God cannot heal our hurts if we choose to remain numb. The lyrics are below-think on them--- move on them. Be moved to face the hurt- not alone but with the power of the cross- because from that God will bring joy.
No headphones! ~AT
Headphones by Jars of Clay
I don’t have to hear it if I don’t want to
I can drown this out, pull the curtains down on you
It’s a heavy world
It’s too much for me to care
If I close my eyes it’s not there
With my headphones on…
We watch television
But the sound is something else
Just a song played against the drummer so the hurt is never felt
I take in the war fighters
I am chilled by the current events
It is so hopeless but there’s a pop song in my headphones on
With my headphones on…
At the tube stop
You sit down across from me (echo: I can see you)
I think I know you
By the sad eyes that I see
I want to tell you (echo: it’s a heavy world)
Everything be okay
You wouldn’t hear it (echo: I don’t want to have to hear it)
So we go our separate ways
With our headphones on…
I don’t want to have to hear it...I don’t want to have to hear it
