Faust, Midas, Sandler, and Myself

I have to be honest. I don't usually get this feeling that "God's trying to teach me something," but as of recently, I really think he has.

And it's a simple thing. But it's one of those things we pass up, only because we get so used to our lives.

It all started (kind of) with a Switchfoot song from their new CD, "Faust, Midas, and Myself." It's another one of his philosophical songs, reminiscent of "Something More (Augustine's Confession)," "Under the Floor," "Home," etc. I like this one a whole whole lot.


Here are the lyrics:

This one’s about a dream

I had last night

How an old man tracked me home

And stepped inside

He put his foot inside the door

And gave a crooked smile

Something in his eyes

Something in his laugh

Something in his voice

That made my skin crawl off

He said, “I’ve seen you here before

I know your name.

You could have your pick

Of pretty things.

You could have it all

Everything at once.

Everything you’ve seen,

Everything you’ll need,

Everything you’ve ever had in fantasies.”

“You’ve one life,

You’ve one life.

You’ve one life left to lead.”

I woke up from my dream

As a golden man

With a girl I’ve never seen

With golden skin

I jumped up to my feet

She asked me what was wrong

I began to scream

I don’t think this is me

Is this just a dream

Or really happening?

What direction?

I’m splitting up!

This is my personal disaffection

What direction? What direction?

What direction now?

I looked outside the glass

At golden shores

Golden ships and masts

With golden cords

As my reflection passed

I hated what I saw

My golden eyes were dead

And a thought passed through my head

A heart that is made of gold can’t really beat at all

I wanted to wake up again

Without a touch of gold

What direction?

Death or action!

Life begins at the intersection.

I woke up as before

But the gold was gone

My wife was at the door

With her night robe on

My heart beat once or twice

And life flooded my veins

Everything had changed

My lungs had found their voice

And what was once routine

was now the perfect joy

You’ve one life

One life left to lead

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We all know the story of Faust. This guy sells his soul to the devil (Mephistopheles) to have all that he wants in order to attain complete happiness.

This song just reminded me how truly blessed I am. I really don't have it bad at all. I complain about having no money, this and that, but in reality, I don't have anything to whine about. The bad and negative that does happen, I only define as "bad" and "negative" because of all the good I see surrounding it. And I know that I say all of this while nothing "bad" is really happening, and my tune will probably change when I do get crapped on, but I don't think life is like that--the idea that it's good one moment and then bad the next. I think it's a fair mix all the time, some moments having more good than bad, and some moments more bad than good.

And then I watched Click. While I wasn't a huge fan of the movie by any means, I did like what it was trying to say. We tend to live our lives in fast forward at times, skipping the slow parts, the commercials, the formulas we already have memorized by heart. In the "nearly literal" sense, there will be times where I'm driving, and I cannot remember the last 5-10 minutes. But we tend to take things for granted, count it as given, and never think twice about it.

I'm trying to slow things down. Breathe easier. Appreciate even the seemingly mundane. I'm trying.