‘Running to Stand Still’ by U2

Jane writes:

Sometimes in life you’re thrown a curveball that stops you in your tracks. They happen periodically and without warning and often in a way that’s oblivious to others around you. You’re coping but goodness knows how (maybe you’re not) and it’s just a case of keeping the show on the road.

I imagine that such moments feel different for different people but for me they are often times when I feel overwhelmed and don’t really know what to do. I am busy ensuring stuff happens but essentially I am only just “running to stand still”.

This global curve ball brings a whole new level of stopping in our tracks. It was for a while a temporary issue but now it seems like it may have to be a whole new way of trying to keep the show on the road and maybe, just maybe, we need to stop doing that thing that we do to keep on keeping on.

To recognise it can never be the same. To notice that some stuff just needs to stop for ever. To be ready for it to be other than our usual experience. To simply try another way of being. It has to be okay too to have the freedom to say we’re not alright.

In this song much of what’s written is connected to isolation and addiction. The girl within it …..

She runs through the streets

With eyes painted red

Under a black belly of cloud in the rain

In through a doorway she brings me

White gold and pearls stolen from the sea

She is raging

She is raging

And the storm blows up in her eyes

She will suffer the needle chill

She’s running to stand

I know that we are not called by God to live life in this frantic way. To live like an addict in isolation or with an obsession for perpetuating the current pattern of our lives. To get our next “fix”.

I felt from the start that this might be something we needed to face but as we come to Advent, we may just need to think about it a bit harder. Why do we do what we do at this time of year? Where do our values and faith sit within the busyness? How do we recognise who is important to us and make them, not stuff, the priority – even if the joy of giving and the hubbub of connectivity are all part of the fun of the season.

I am not the sort of person who wants to cry “Bah Humbug!!” but I wonder if this year instead of rushing to repeat the pattern of years past we just take an extra breath and try something new. Break the “addictions” or “obsessions” whatever they may be and recognise that this truly is the season of God with us.

God offers life. Life in all its fullness. Life that is challenging. Life that’s full of joy. That’s a complicated thing but its the offer we must grasp now. No more running to stand still. More of a walk towards God’s preferred future.

U2 and everything about them can be found here https://www.u2.com/index/home