Sometimes in life, things don’t go the way you think they will. For example – getting almost a foot of snow on the first day of Spring. (Just think back a few months, Marylanders.) In the middle of the unexpected, it can be jarring. And unsettling.
The composers of Sweet Violets play off of the unexpected. So much so that as my mom would sing it to me as a kid we couldn’t help but laugh every time. At the climax of each rhyming phrase, just when you think the composers are going to satisfy your ears with the EXPECTED rhyme, they throw you for a loop – landing nowhere close to the story you thought you were going to hear. Each twist of the rhyme is also accompanied by a change in meter in the music, adding to the instability. As you listen, you’ll be lucky if you can regain the rhythmic balance quick enough to catch the next phrase as the story carries on.
The story itself is about a man who was taken for a loop. He met a woman, fell in love, proposed, was warned by her father, decided to marry her anyway…. and then was left at the altar as broke as a joke.
You have a similar story, you say? Maybe it’s not a relationship. Maybe its your health that’s been taking you for a loop. Maybe its a debt that has crept up and now has you spinning. Or, maybe it IS the loss of someone you love. The fact is, at some point we have or will suffer from an unexpected turn of events. We may find ourselves at the climax of our own story – but, instead of living the dream, we are left in shock---waiting.
“Even though you thought you would be further along by now, somehow by grace, you are learning how to live here. Making the most of the ordinary even in uninvited seasons of waiting.“ - Morgan Harper Nichols
If you’ve felt that the last few weeks, or the last few years have not been what you were hoping for, I pray for you that you’ll find your own "sweet violets" along the way. Let’s believe that one day we all will look back and say: “Thank you, God! Thank you for not giving me the expected. Thank you for spinning me on my head and helping me trust You more. Thank you for helping me to stop and smell the 'Sweet Violets'." Breath them in-- knowing that though your story is not going the way you planned, God does have a plan for you. I pray it's sweeter than you believed it could be.
Listen along on Amazon Music: Sweet Violets
Or listen on Spotify: