Laughing At

This song has been on my ipod for FOREVER.  It's called Laughing With by Regina Spektor.  Once it's in your head, it's hard to get out.  In fact, it's gotten to the point where Jenn will be like "Stop humming that song!"  Recently I had to write a paper on a song of my choice for my English class.  At first, I thought, "How am I going to choose a song out of ALL the songs there are?"  So I got out my ipod and started shuffling, and this is the one I ended up choosing. 

To be honest, I'd never really thought about the lyrics before, and when I finally did, I was sort of confused.  In the verses of the song, she sings about how people don’t laugh at God in the midst of their troubles.  She gives different examples of hardships, like, “No one laughs at God in a hospital, No one laughs at God in a war, No one’s laughing at God, When they’re starving or freezing or so very poor.”

In the chorus, she tells about how God can be "funny" or is "made fun of" when people are happy or doing okay.  She sings, “God can be funny, At a cocktail party while listening to a good God-themed joke or, When the crazies say he hates us, and they get so red in the head, you think that they’re about to choke. God can be funny, When told he’ll give you money if you just pray the right way, And when presented like a genie, Who does magic like Houdini, or grants wishes like Jiminy Cricket and Santa Claus.”

In essence, the song is about hypocrisy.  Why do people mock the thought of God when they feel like they don’t need Him, and then pray to God desperately for help when things get out of control?  Regina asks her listeners a question... Do you really believe God is out there?  If you do, then act like it all the time and don't mock the existence of God when you "feel like don't need Him."  If you don’t, then why don't think about God when tragedy strikes?  If He doesn't exist when life is good, then He won't exist when life is bad.  In essense, I think the song tells us to either take God seriously or give up the idea of God altogether.

At the end of the song, it says, “No one’s laughing at God, We’re all laughing with God.”  This struck me, and it gives the song a whole new meaning. The song is called Laughing With because of the last line.  But I think the song should be more appropriately called Laughing At.  I also thought it was interesting how the name God is mentioned over thirty times throughout the song, but the word God is not in the title.  Maybe no one would have listened to a song titled Laughing At God, but in truth, that exactly what this song is about.

But what does Regina mean by laughing with God?  Laugh because we know everything will turn out okay?  Laugh because the world is going to end someday and nothing on earth will "really matter?"  Laugh because once we die, we're DEAD, and there's nothing really we need to live for?  It's almost like God's just up there laughing at our short, petty little lives, and then we all realize it's all just a big joke.  For me, this last line is the most puzzling and thought provoking part of the song.  What is Regina trying to say?

I think there are many ways to interpret the ending of the song, but this is how I look at it.  We'll laugh with God is heaven.  We'll laugh when we see our sorrows turned into joys.  We'll laugh when we hear music instead of crying.  We'll laugh when we see good come out of bad.  That's when true happiness will come -- not when we think we have life figured out and not when we think we're okay on our own -- when we realize that God had it all planned out the whole time.

Listen. 

Seeing the right way

Contentment.

Gah.  That whole word makes me cringe.  When I list the Ten Commandments in my head, I know I fail by a long shot, but I tend to think that out of all the commandments, I do pretty well when it comes to being satisfied with my lot in life.  Well, I have proven myself entirely wrong.

 The Bible says, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
Exodus 20:17

Sheesh, that's not too hard, we say.  I don't even want a servant, ox, or donkey (or the wife for that matter lol).

But ever since September, I have come to realize how much I complain.  Not about the big things.  About the little things.  Don't get me wrong, I am an extremely blessed person.  God has given me more than I could ask for on so many levels.  He has blessed me with a stable family, house, food, school, job, friends, and plenty of wonderful opportunities.  And He has given me the greatest thing of all: the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.

A couple days ago, I was driving home late at night, and I was in one of those really happy (hahaa, almost slap happy moods), where everything seems so perfect, good, and right.  And I thought, "Wow.  My life is good.  I am truly blessed."  And then I thought, Why am I so grumpy sometimes?  Why do I snap at people? Why do I come home after an awesome time with some friends, and start complaining about the stuff I don't want to do?

Have you ever thought about what you think about?  Seriously.  Think about it.  What do you spend time thinking about?  What takes up your thoughts on a regular basis?  If you're like me, it's not exactly what I want to be thinking about most of the time.  God should be first in my actions and thoughts, but I tend to bury Him deep somewhere until I finally get out my Bible or go to church. 

Instead, I find that a lot my thoughts and energy are spent comparing myself to others.  I see people and I want to be like them.  "This person does this, so I need to do it too," or, "A lot of people have this, so I need it too."  It's so easy to do.  Especially since our culture is based on the idea that we need what everybody else has.  "In order to keep up and be cool, you need to do this, buy this, and be this.  Then you'll be happy."  This form of envy comes to us in all different ways: peer-pressure, advertisements, social expectations and values.  The world tells us that to be happy, you need a boyfriend, tons of money, and lots of stuff.  But that's so wrong.  Our identity in not in what we have or don't have.  Our identity is in Christ.  Yet when we're surrounded by others with the wrong mindset and priorities, it's not hard to start thinking that way too.

There is a solution to this problem.  I'm realizing more than ever how much I need to rely on God for my needs and desires.  I so easily lose sight of the Big Picture.  This life on earth doesn't last!!!  The things that I envy in others now won't even matter.  And yet I spend so much time thinking about how I can get what I want.  This all broils down to a selfishness and self-centeredness on my part.  I realize how much I miss things around me when I'm so focused on what I don't have. 

So, I'm asking for God to help me see others, not to envy them and compare myself to them, but to serve them.  I want to be a servant.  I want Bright Eyes for Jesus...to shine for Him.

It reminds me of the song by Brandon Heath "Give Me Your Eyes."  Such a great message.

So speaking of eyes, here's a picture of my eyes photographed and edited by my sister Jenn.  This picture is a good reason why I'm called Bright Eyes.

"Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, 'Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.'"
Hebrews 13:5

"I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.  I can do all this through him who gives me strength. "
Philippians 4:12-13