Faith, Hope, Dreams

Today I unearthed a tape made from a CD made from an audience recording. It's labeled '8/11/99 highlights'. ( Read more... )

This train carries saints and sinners
This train carries losers and winners
This train carries whores and gamblers
This train carries lost souls
This train carries broken-hearted
This train carries sweet souls departed
This train carries fools and kings
This train - All aboard
This train - Dreams will not be thwarted
This train - Faith will be rewarded
This train - Hear the steel wheels singin'
This train - Bells of freedom ringin'

Today I found myself comparing the line "Faith will be rewarded" with the inclusive image of the lines that go before it and the whole "Faith vs Reality" argument.

The image of saints, sinners, losers, winners, and so on all together doesn't look like the sort of America Bush wants. But it's more real than Bush's vision of America. I don't think faith is a cosmic gum-ball machine - prayers in, prizes out. But faith, hope, dreams - those are what keep us going, what can keep us getting up every morning and going to work and doing the work of life. Without that, we're dead.

I do believe faith is rewarded. But I believe the primary reward for your faith is that it keeps you doing what you need to do.

A small example: yes, it's a scientific fact that if you plant basil seeds and keep them moist, they'll germinate. It's also the dream of the plant (basil, mmm) and faith that the seeds aren't too old to germinate that keeps me stopping on my way to work to mist the seeds.

I know. Some dreams can get in the way. Sometimes the your faith is your leader, and you're the lemming. ( Read more... )