i've got a feeling

is a worship song,
truly considered to be a worship song,
if it, in any way, acknowledges
or verbalizes our wants and needs,
rather than to strictly affirm god's
attributes and goodness?

classic example:
"hungry, i come to you
for i know you satisfy.
i am empty but i know
your love does not run dry"

songs like this one don't merely
focus on god alone and his glorious
reign as creator and sustainer of all things.
rather, it becomes an emotional mess
of the innermost things that we desire.
and, can that be considered true worship?

if you'd asked me this question,
when i originally started struggling
with it- about a week ago-
my answer would be: no-
worship music should solely
be restricted to god and sung for god.

but, now i think i'm starting to change
my tune (no pun intended).
our emotions and yearnings map where
we have been on our journeys, and
hopefully will direct where it is
that we're going.

i remember telling kids in youth group,
that the song i most connected to
with god during the previous week
was "monster hospital" by metric.
and the lyric that most struck me was:
"i fought the war, but the war won't
stop for the love of god",
as i felt it referred to my daily spiritual
walk, which felt like a war with no end
in sight, but i still felt like god was
walking with me every step of the way-
despite the seemingly endless chaos.

our feelings can so often get the best of us.
but, we so clearly need them- especially if
we hope to have any sort of a fulfilled life at all.
where we, as humans in general, suck
is at wearing our hearts on our sleeves.
if we all did, just a bit more often,
we might not feel so alone in this mess of life.