A Gift

Soon after I left New Haven, a talented friend of mine made a piece of art for me as a going-away gift. I didn't realize how meaningful it would be.

She took two of my favorite U2 songs, and extracted a certain portion of the lyrics, and watercolored the background.

The lyrics are from "Bad" and "Pride (In the Name of Love)"

This is the piece in entirety:

And this is what she wrote about it:

"I'm glad you got the gift! I never found time to write a card to go along with it. It would have explained what I was thinking with the piece- it's small but I think it came out more powerful than I imagined- I'm so glad these were your favorite songs. I was baffled by how deep the lyrics were and how in my mind, the lines that I extracted from the two songs fit together so well. The lyrics for the first song, though I've never heard it in full before, just seemed somber but real. I feel like this is our reality. Apart from Christ, this is where we are, struggling through different situations of painful desperation- and the words they chose were perfect to express the anguish. I imagined this as a note to us from Jesus- "Let it go, let these things go" and in a sense it is a cry of empathy for us, but it is also a command. "What more in the name of love" referring to His sacrifice, that washed away all the chains and oppression of this reality, He is saying 'What more can I ask- my sacrifice is perfect. Let it go, I have better for you."
I don't know, I looked at that combo over and over after I put it together and I just kept hearing the Spirit tell me that the grasp sin has over us might not be as tight as I imagine it to be. That in my fear, in my oppression, I give it power, but He can and will enpower me to let go and be free in Christ. I want that for you too. I want us to know what it looks like to love and live in freedom because of Christ."