"Oh, nothing could change what you mean to me..."

"...Oh, once in your life you find someone
Who will turn your world around
Bring you up when you're feeling down...

Oh, nothing could change what you mean to me
Oh there's a lot that I could say
But just hold me now
Cause our love will light the way..."
-     Bryan Adams

I think I'm losing it…but in a very peaceful kind of way.  I was on my way up to "the college" this morning, listening to The Diane Rehm Show and a discussion of terrorism when they broke for station identification.  When it comes to car radio listening habits, my love for pop music is second only to NPR (National Public Radio), but just barely. 

Perhaps this time-evolved preferential hierarchy has something to do with my insatiable hunger to hear my sister, NPR reporter Nancy Mullane's voice leading listeners through one of her riveting stories on social reform or urban responsibility.  Nancy's pieces can be found scattered randomly throughout NPR's program offernings and we never know when they will appear...so we listen, and listen, and listen. And in the process, we become informed global citizens.  But no matter how much I love public radio, I am always secretly thrilled for the opportunity to push preset-button #2 and enter the world of soft rock/folk/adult acoustic radio.  I don't worry that I will miss anything by changing stations, since I already know and appreciate the philanthropy of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and their support of "this and other public radio programs."

I switch stations and within a heartbeat, I am bathed in Yanou's clear, sweet remix of Bryan Adams' beautiful "Oh, thinking about all my younger years..." immersed in her version "Heaven" and thrown back to thinking about my own younger years…but only for the briefest moment because suddenly I find myself deep in thought about my spiritual life today.  And today this song, like many love songs of late, speaks to me about my love for Jesus Christ...the impact of his life on my life, and his timeless message in my heart. 

There is something so peace-deepening about my relationship with Christ.  Knowing that I cannot find myself alone, flailing aimlessly as I figure out this human journey.  I love feeling that no matter where my thoughts may seem to be wandering, or how "far astray I roam" in my interests…politics, art, international justice, pop music…the Christ is there to claim me as God's own.  Christ-love asserts itself in my life, redeeming even a sentimental Bryan Adams song for His... God's...purpose.  The invariable presence of Christ is always here…reminding me of that one true Love in my life.  It is that one true Love which all other relationships pale in the light of. But it is also this one, true Love that blesses and stretches me with relationships in which I can prove and celebrate that I am, in fact, more generous, patient, kind, courageous than I ever imagined I could be.

So this morning, from my office high above the Mississippi, at this beautiful college campus perched on the edge of these dramatic granite bluffs…over which eagles soar and pelicans feed…I am celebrating the relentlessness, the persistence, the unfailing insistence and unyielding assertiveness of that one true Love…the Christ,

"the true idea voicing good, the divine message from God to men,
speaking to human consciousness"
- Mary Baker Eddy

…in our hearts. 

Nothing can take that away from me…or you...
Kate