“They heard me singing and they told me to stop
Quit these pretentious things and just punch the clock.”
Arcade Fire
Though Arcade Fire’s album The Suburbs wasn’t released until well after my high school joy riding days, today this song suddenly drops me back into the driver’s seat of my ‘87 Nissan Maxima: windows down, stereo up, hair flying wild while singing lyrics to a song that resonates deep in my bones as I navigate the twists and turns of Asheville’s country roads.
Today as I sing these lyrics, committed to the song, to the wind, and to the smile starting to curl up on one side of my mouth like it did all those years ago, I join the lyricist in her noble fight for freedom instead of succumbing to the pressure of monotony.
As the song drifts forward, another line causes a snag in the recesses of my brain:
“Dead shopping malls rise like mountains beyond mountains
And there’s no end in sight
I need the darkness, someone please cut the lights”
This imagery is not lost on me, and neither is the lament to break the rut of tediousness and isolation created by technology and concrete empires, thus crowding out natural beauty.
While I’m grateful for the convenience and comforts of modern technology, a longing lingers inside of me for two things: genuine relationships and the raw, restorative beauty of nature.
This makes sense because I’m God-wired to be in relationship and delight in His creation. And I can’t think of anything else that has the potential to disrupt these two ideals more than modernity.
Artificial lights cloud our eyes from being awed by a divinely exquisite night sky
Playlists drown our ears us from enjoying the revelry of birdsong or rushing of falls
Restaurants rob our appreciation of the miracle of seed in earth
Concrete blocks bury blades of grass under our feet and soft petals at our fingertips
Palmed devices create expanses between the people sitting shoulder to shoulder
Today, this song reminds me that though these things are a welcomed part of my life, I want to create and lean into more moments of what matters most: the flesh and blood by my side, the beauty of God’s creation and the lifesong welling up inside of me waiting to burst forth from my lips. If the current speed and specs of western culture is considered “normal,” then I’ll gladly don the label of “peculiar.” I think a worn out and weary world could use more of us!
If today you’re feeling like a cracked cog in the wheel of society, I invite you to take your own joyride – windows down, “The Sprawl (Mountain Beyond Mountains)” cranked, and a prayer in your heart asking for God’s help to slow down so you can relish the hard-fought gift of presence and the wonder of His extraordinary creativity woven throughout creation.