Last Saturday, I asked people to share an anthem, some piece of music or poetry or fragment of an idea that is playing in the background of where they are right now. If you ever need a bit of inspiration, read through the comments on that post, because they are a powerful reminder of what happens when people in a community, even an online community, share what’s going on in their lives.
Below are the three comments that really stood out to me and will be getting a free copy of the documentary “Anthem.” If you wrote one of these comments, please email me at [email protected] with “Anthem Winner” in the subject line and your mailing address so I can get the DVD to you. Thanks to everyone that entered. Without you sharing your thoughts and time, this site doesn’t really exist and I plan on finding more ways in the future to get free, cool stuff into your hands.
Simon L Smith wrote:
My wife and I have had 5 children. Our oldest, Job, is 17. Our oldest daughter, Abigail, is 15. Our youngest son, Jesse, is almost 9 and our youngest daughter, Chloe, is almost 7.
Our middle child, Jude, died of brain cancer when he was 2 years, 2 months and 1 day old.
One song that has been my anthem for the last 8 years has been Disintegration by the Cure. Specifically the live version off of the Pictures of You single.
The song is about leaving – and not promising to stay until the end – and contains these amazing lyrics:
Now that I know that I’m breaking to pieces
I’ll pull out my heart and I’ll feed it to anyone
Crying for sympathy crocodiles cry for the love of the crowd
And the three cheers from everyone
Dropping through sky through the glass of the roof
Through the roof of your mouth
Through the mouth of your eye
Through the eye of the needle
It’s easier for me to get closer to heaven
Than ever feel whole again
In may ways this has been my anthem for the last 8 years.
PhoebeB wrote:
I was reared in a Christian home but ran away from God as hard as I could from age 12 until He finally made me cry uncle at age 45. My anthem now at age 73– and until He calls me home–will always be these centuries-old words by an unknown writer.
The tree of life my soul hath seen,
Laden with fruit and always green:
The trees of nature fruitless be
Compared with Christ the apple tree.
His beauty doth all things excel:
By faith I know, but ne’er can tell
The glory which I now can see
In Jesus Christ the apple tree.
For happiness I long have sought,
And pleasure dearly I have bought:
I missed of all; but now I see
‘Tis found in Christ the apple tree.
I’m weary with my former toil,
Here I will sit and rest awhile:
Under the shadow I will be,
Of Jesus Christ the apple tree.
This fruit doth make my soul to thrive,
It keeps my dying faith alive;
Which makes my soul in haste to be
With Jesus Christ the apple tree.
(From “Divine Hymns & Spiritual Songs”, collected by Joshua Smith, NH, 1784)
myjoy wrote:
My anthem right now is Ephesians 4:29, it’s everywhere around me, in sermons, in studies, on TV, everywhere! God is clearly trying to tell me something.
“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”
God is challenging me to have everyone be better off than before they talked to me.
And today I just had a revelation. It’s not just directed at other people. It’s also about what I tell myself. Is my internal dialogue helpful for building me up? Or am I tearing myself down? Am I better off after hearing my own voice, than when I started? Or do I remain dejected, discouraged?
So I pray God will use this verse to change my heart, to tame my tongue, that the same mouth I use to bless His name I do not use to curse others or myself.
