Love & Work

It was nice to have a day off today. Well the closest thing to one with the situation I am in. I guess that I would have to thank the pastor at church for sparking the next blog idea. Or well at least the first half of it.

It was a beautiful day in the swamp. A blessing if you have been surviving down here. Felt like spring back home. Not to cool, and not icky warm, like a cool ocean breeze all across your skin. I want to address what some may think to be a scary thing. For the most part it is. It’s something we could spend the rest of our lies getting right, but quit along the way because of our lack to the thing that brought us there in the first place. The thing I speak of is marriage.

With being an only child and the last of my family, there’s a big shadow over my head to be wed. I think this is a thing people don’t grasp in the beginning and then it comes back to haunt them. The thing with me is that for others who don’t know me that well or who cannot delve deep into the fiber of my being let me explain how I view marriage.

In my heart, in my soul; there is a place, a place that God has put aside. A place where no demons, no sin, none of the horrors a man is capable of none can penetrate to the side. The side reserved for the one. The yin, to my yang as Pastor Dave would put it. This is solely reserved for the woman who I will go through the depths of hell with a smile on my face, for I will know I walked like Jesus., to announce my unconditional love, and to cherish and share in the life another. Marriage is the sacrament that binds us to one another.

There is no easy way to do a marriage. We people are not one in the same, and the road that lies ahead for us will not always be smooth. But in this lies the deep understanding of what it means to be committed. For me I dream to bask and derive the strength men are capable of from the one, the woman who was strong enough to stare down a lion, and love with equal. This is why in conversations I admit to play as female characters in Role Playing games. Inner strength isn’t something that resides in size. A genuine woman could be the size of a rail or the size of a whale. But we are meant for someone who more or less complements us. Understand this in no way means constant agreement.

I believe that in the bible when they talk about woman serving their husbands, they are not referring to the slave kind. I think the meaning to serve is to value the spouse as a person whose love is for you only. As men we should give up trying to figure woman out and spend time figuring out the one who has chosen to be with. It could take a lifetime; we need all the time we can get. I do not wish or want my wife to be the cut and paste housewife. We are just as capable of washing dishes, and cleaning the house as they are. Our biological differences of gender allow us to be stronger physically, this we should use to help our wives instead of doing violence or harm against them. Also remember that we are of our own souls, and marriage is in no way ownership of one or the other. We were made equal, and to balance one another.

While we may not agree on everything, it is our values that help in bringing us close together. But do not discount how we see each other physically. Be wary tat reflections of which you are echo in your physical form, such is the way of balance. It is part of the promise of marriage to help each other in the ways they may fall short in. It is woman who can show men nurturing, it is men who can show women such things as courage. This leads to the life of Marriage, and in walking in the footprints of the man that gave his life for us. To love, honor, and cherish. To hold the one you love, in your arms. As she sleeps, watch her beauty, her soul at peace. As you protect her from the horrors that men are to face, and to succeed, in acting on our vows. This understanding extends to all things.

This leads me to my next topic of work. It is not a scary thing. Recently in the age of industry, the soul of American heart has been dealt a blow by the revolution of machines. I make a plea for the useful arts, and the rise of tradecraft.

I being a musician am happy to walk a wonderful line of creative ability and soul craft. My Music is the product, and I am the mechanic of my words. It is one of the last things that require one to come to accept the kinetic ability that people have. Our work has become soulless as we have become knowledge workers. We must strive to bring back the fullness of working with our brains and our hands. I find it deeply spiritual to be able to retain the two. It is great to be able to lead a life where all of you work to make a better life, and there is deep intrinsic value.

Think of how many record labels there were. How much better of a place it would be to have the spirit of the kind of capitalism that made this country. In the hopes of putting more money in our pocket employees have squandered the ability and hopes of countless workers. Think of how many craftsmen were around before the assembly line, or how many there would still be if we did what was right and held founding values over the need for personal gain. Of course there is still time, for people willing to take a stand, to build something great, something of immense value. It is in all of us because we all have the ability to love.