Song One

There are two songs that really move me emotionally and a third that makes me want to fall on my knees in worship to the God of all creation for His unfathomable love and the peace that passes all understanding.
The first two are love songs. Well, at least the first one is a love song. My wife and I have been married for forty three years. Neither of us is the same person we married all those years ago. We’ve grown older, of course, but we’ve also grown accustomed to each other. She depends upon me and I defend her. She hurts and I try to ease her pain. I hunger and she feeds me. I feel the need for closeness and she’s always there. It’s comfortable knowing she’s in the house and that we’re together, even when she’s doing her thing and I’m doing mine.

Helen Reddy sang a song called “You and Me Against the World” and though it’s generally a song of a mom’s love for her child, it’s still what I think about my wife. It’s always been the two of us against the world. Standing with each other, yet falling down so often. Loving each other, yet in that love we have hurt each other, sometimes badly. Still, through the hurts, heartaches and happiness we have stuck together and in the sticking we have become one – more and more, with each passing day…one.

The song (I’ve put a link below, please go listen to it) has a line that says:

And when one of us is gone
And one of us is left to carry on
Then remembering will have to do
Our memories alone will see us through
Think about the days of me and you
You and me against the world.

I know so many who have lost a spouse and I see the loneliness in their eyes and the pain of loss in their hearts and I know, yes it will be like this for one of us one day. The odds are we will not die together and one will be left to carry on. Ah, but love doesn’t have to die and memories are great gifts that God has given us so that we can be sure that we are never really alone. We can close our eyes and relive all the good times. And what’s so wonderful about memories is that every time we remember we can fix those memories to be however we wish them to be and we can remember them even greater than when they were first fixed in our minds.

I know it’s a great blessing that our memories alone will see us through. So, Baby, should you go first, I promise to remember…

You and Me Against the World