So, with the new E.P at bay, I have felt semi-obligated, but more-so just have been wanting to share about the inspiration behind its little title track. This song has come to be one I am incredibly fond of, and I am truly in belief that this song has always been spiritually anointed, and by his own grace, He has chosen me to unveil it to the rest of the world.
It's actually quite comical, because when I first wrote the song, I would have never given it the vision that it has come to envelop today. Sitting alone in my room, atop my orientally-inspired bedspread, I remember flipping through the pages of my journal in an avid, desperate hope to somehow unearth a fresh song idea.
After rummaging through page after page after page, feeling creatively defeated and worn, I somehow landed upon a one-sentence journal entry. Nothing less, nothing more-only one sentence, and one sentence alone. It read as follows:
"At some point in the future, I would like to write a tune entitled "Smoke", encompassing the idea of Ecclesiastes."
Fin. That was it. I had my idea. And thank the Lord. I mean, really, what were the odds that I'd find that entry even if I had had a significantly strong intention to?
Anyhow, I continued to seek this song out wholeheartedly. What kind of sound should the lyrics pair up with? How should I even BEGIN the lyrics? What chords should I use? Should I even write the lyrics first?
With such baffling questions circulating throughout my thought process, I did the most practical and simplistic thing I knew to do. I cracked open the living Word.
I turned through each page until I reached an emboldened header that read, and quite fervently, "ECCLESIASTES." Jackpot.
So I sat. And I read. And I digested.
I especially skimmed for beautiful sentences that truly gave birth to what this biblical book is all about. And, lucky for me, most could be found in the very first chapter.
"Meaningless! Meaningless!
says the Teacher. "Utterly
meaningless! Everything is
meaningless."
What does main gain from all his
labor at which he toils under
the sun?
Generations come & generations
go, but the earth remains forever.
(Then, verse six)
The wind blows to the South and
turns to the North; round
and round it goes, ever returning
on its course.
All streams flow into
the sea, yet the sea
is never full.
To the place the streams
come from, there they return
again.
All things are wearisome,
more than one can say.
The eye never has enough of
seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing.
And from these verses, a song was born. Or at least the faint beginnings.
I love the idea that what we clench onto so tightly here and now will soon come to pass, and that one day, all we will live and breathe will be the name of Jesus in all of His glory. We are, even as humans, incredibly temporary, and most everything tangible we chase reads the same. Wind. Smoke. Nothingness. Nothing will last in the end but our Creator and His great, unfathomable Kingdom. We are, truly, not long here.
And though the idea may seem rather forlorn, my goal in the bridge was to bring forth a sense of hope.
Later, in Ecclesiastes 9, the writer addresses the Lord's intentions for us now.
"So go, eat your food with gladness,
and drink your wine with a joyful
heart, for it is now that God
favors what you do."
And then, verse ten:
"Whatever your hand finds to do,
do it with all your might, for in
the grave, where you are going,
there is neither working nor planning
nor knowledge nor wisdom."
His intention for us now is to embrace these prospered years He has so graciously given us, knowing always that it is His favor being poured out over our lives. And yet, still, we must continually remember that something so much more perfect than anything we can achieve or acquire awaits us.
Our destines are inevitable, but our heavenly treasures endure, even through our weakest of days.
