the day before You

Normally I know by Saturday the week before what song is going to be featured in this series, but this week I had no idea until about 5 minutes ago.  God, in His infinite goodness, allowed one of His children to remind me of this song and it now seems so obvious that I have to write about it!  I also love that I always capitalize the last word of each title (to match worthy of Agape) and the way this blog works out is even cooler: the day before You, the day before God in a sense.  What did we do before we found God?  So as you check out this song, think about it on two levels: the day before you met God and the day before you met/will meet that special somone your heart is looking for.

Song: The Day Before You
Artist: Matthew West (though Rascal Flatts have a cover of it on their "Feels Like Today" album)
Lyrics:
I had all but given up on finding
The one that I could fall into
On the day before you
I was ready to settle for
Less than love and not much more
There was no such thing as a dream come true
Oh, but that was all the day before you

Now you're here and everything's changing
Suddenly life means so much
I can't wait to wake up tomorrow
And find out this promise is true
I will never have to go back to
The day before you

In your eyes I see forever
Makes me wish that my life never knew
The day before you

Oh, but Heaven knows those years without you
Were shaping my heart for the that day I found you
If you're the reason for all that I've been through
Then I'm thankful for the day before you

Now you're here and everything's changing
Suddenly life means so much
I can't wait to wake up tomorrow
And find out this promise is true
I will never have to go back to
The day before you

Was the last day that I ever needed alone
And I'm never going back
No I'm never going back

Now you're here and everything's changing
Suddenly life means so much
I can't wait to wake up tomorrow
And find out this promise is true
No I'm never going back
I will never have to go back to
The day before you

I first fell in love with this song after I heard an interview with Matthew West on K-LOVE when he talked about this song and how he wrote it for his wife and sang it to her at their wedding.  They were talking one night about how he wished that he could have known her forever, what was the point of all the days before meeting her anyway?  She simply told him that they weren't ready for each other yet, God wasn't ready for them to meet.  After all, if they had met even a day sooner perhaps they would have simply walked past each other, missing one another entirely.  (Which is a very similar sentiment to the notions mentioned in the prayer I featured in the "gingerbread Man" blog)  Its an amazing story about how the song came to be, but the song is perhaps even more amazing.

On the whole, think about the day before you knew God.  Would you want to go back there?  Do the days where you didn't know or realize or believe that there is a God of the Universe who loves you unconditionally sound appealing to you?  Certainly not.  I wouldn't go back to those days for anything.  Now He is here and EVERYTHING is changing and I wake up every single day to find out His promises are true, and I never have to go back to the days before Him.

The first verse is a verse that comes straight from the heart of every man and woman searching for love - we find ourselves tired and ready to give up, to settle for less than love, to settle for less than what our hearts really want.  We begin to believe that there is no fairy tale, no beautiful love story to be written about our lives, and yet how wrong we are in those beliefs.  As I said earlier, God answers our prayers first with Himself, and always with Himself.  We never settle with Him and He never settles on us - the love between ourselves and God is more beautiful and radiant than the greatest love story ever told. 

But now "you're" here, now God is here and, God willing, someday our partner, our soulmate will be here.  When the day comes everything will change, life begins to mean more than you ever thought it could.  We awake to a new day and have to pinch ourselves to remember that the promise, that the love is true and it wasn't just a dream.  We awake to find our reality surpasses our dreams!

Then comes Matthew West with the thought we all have, "makes me wish that my life never knew the day before you."  We wish we hadn't failed, we hadn't fallen short, we hadn't sinned in the past.  We wish that we could offer our everything to our soulmate (and maybe you're one of the lucky ones who hasn't had their heart broken before meeting your soulmate, all the more amazing for you) but we can't, for whatever reason.  Oh, "but Heaven knows those years without you were shaping my heart for the day that I found you."  We find in another someone who compliments us, whose heart fits with ours.  There's a line in "La Vie Boheme" from the musical RENT that actually fits well, "life's too short babe, time is flying, I'm looking for baggage that goes with mine."  Though we shouldn't really be looking for baggage, by the grace of God and His perfect timing we find someone whose "baggage", whose heart, whose hurts go with ours in such a beautiful way that it can only be described as divine!  If that person is the reason for all that we've been through (though I sometimes feel like Matthew is blaming this person...), then I'm thankful for the day before you, I'm thankful for everything along the way that led me to be exactly who God wanted me to be so that I could meet and fall in love with you.

The day before You was the last day that I ever lived alone, and I'm never going back, it only gets sweeter from here on out.

Lord, help us to be thankful for the days, weeks, months and even years before we meet whomever You have chosen for us.  Help keep our hearts and minds pure, not only for their sake, but for Your glory.  Though we may have fallen short in the past, grant us the strength to rise to the hope that, like Your Son, we may be resurrected and sit with You one day in Heaven.  AMEN.