..."you can't always get what you want..."

Who says great philosophy can't come from a rock & roll song... I've been on an 'oldies' kick.... playing my oldies playlist on my ipod in the car.... my oldest son loves the choir that opens the  Rolling Stones song "You Can't Always Get What You Want" ... my youngest wants to know, "If we are listening to the 'Christian' channel"....  I feel it is somewhat important to not raise my kids in a bubble... we are called to be the 'salt & light' ... I am just selective about what secular 'things' I expose them to...

Once Gwen Steffani was belting out "I ain't no Holler-back Girl" ... during the song my oldest asked what she was saying..."that's my SHIP" ...  is the conclusion he came to.... I promptly switched off my hip-hop playlist.... out of the mouths of babes....

I really do listen to Christian music most of my day.... SHINE.FM 89.7 .... we felt called to become donors when my youngest said a cuss word... we asked where he had learned it... "In Dad's truck, on the radio," he retorted.... my husband became a SHINE.FM fan too.... out of the mouths of babes.....

I was turned on to Christian music in the late 90's .... I longed for a morning commute not filled with the smut of city style talk radio ... a college friend, & sorority sister, of mine has a brother who felt called to go into youth ministry in Nashville, TN.... later to become the pretty well know artist... Mark Schultz.... his song 'Remember Me' was the one that drew me in.... one of our friends said it would be the next "That's What Friends Are For".... but, I always felt the song was sung in first person, by Jesus... him telling us to remember him in: ... "the Bible cracked and faded through the years".... "the sanctuary filled with silent prayer..."  "as the children leave their Sunday School with smiles..."
...take a listen on youtube at the link below....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PVKFa8K4G8

I still love my oldies though.... my 80's & 90's rock... they were the songs of my years filled with youthful abandon... and I can't help but think that there are some good 'life lessons' in those lyrics too...

Poison- "Every Rose Has It's Thorn" ... "just like every night has it's dawn"

Guns N'Roses - "November Rain" ... "it's hard to hold a candle in the cold November Rain"

Guns N'Roses - "Sweet Child O'Mine" ..."reminds me of childhood memories... where everything was        as fresh as a bright blue sky"

Bon Jovi - "Livin' on a Prayer" ..."we gotta hold on to what we got.... we're half way there... take my hand & we'll make it"

... and then there's the Rollin' Stones.... Mick Jagger's plump lips telling us that "you can't always get what you want... but you get what you need..."

This makes me think about the Lord.... I'm always shooting requests his way... but He doesn't always give me what I want... He gives me what I need .... when I need it.... shaping me into the creature He has planned me to be... on the timeline He has planned for me....

In Nehemiah, the prophet tells us about how the Lord sustained His people for four decades...

Nehemiah 9:21 (New Living Translation) "21 For forty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing."

... the Israelite's lacked nothing... they were camping in the desert... roaming in circles... being sustained by the Lord...

...in the Psalms King David pleases with the Lord for sustenance.....
Psalm 119:116 (New Living Translation) "116 Lord, sustain me as you promised, that I may live!  Do not let my hope be crushed."

As I have spent my morning time with the Lord wrestling with this, I have come to the conclusion that I have to trust in the Lord.... pray for his sustenance... pray for my hopes to be in line with His... "not my will but THINE"...  because I may not always be able to get what I want.... but I will get what I need... from the Maker of the heaven & earth....