‘Mercy’ — Dave Matthews Band
Music is such a universal topic. But I love music, so why not write about it? Here’s my first song of the month:
I’m quite literally the only person I know who enjoys Dave Matthews Band (Andy from “The Office” notwithstanding). It started with being obsessed with “Grey Street,” then “Where Are You Going?” (Is this guy only going to name Busted Stuff songs? Apparently), then I kept going on from there.
Let’s be honest here. Almost every single Dave Matthews Band song is about love and, well, actions associated with love, let’s keep it PG. Dave Matthews is a master at young love happy songs as well as young dramatic love songs — it’s very much what they get on the radio for. However, the band is better than simply a Crash Into Me. They’ve come up with some serious introspective songs about life, and one of those is Mercy.
Listen here (when it gets to the really long instrumental, you can keep reading and it’ll be like a movie score or something!)
Yes, okay, you got me — Mercy is still about love. But it’s not just about love!
This ties well with my last blog on success because the song recognizes how messy life is:
“Don’t give up
I know you can see
All the world and the mess that we’re making”
One of my mentors recently told me,
“No one cares what you do in your twenties.”
Have you heard this from someone? I respect them quite a bit, so I’m not going to full on frontally attack the quote, because I know (they told me) that one of their mentors told it to them, in their twenties. So I would like to amend the quote:
“No one cares what you do in your twenties… except the people that are in their twenties.”
Not all care to the same degree; one twenty-five year-old may be preparing to have her second child, while another is pondering which Mario Sports Switch game to buy: Tennis, or Golf? (I’ve been told Mario Golf is the correct answer).
We still have a perspective on life as a whole though. We still look out into the stars on late-night drives wondering what our place is in the universe. Will we have enough money to put our soon-to-be two kids in a nice house? Will I get a job that makes my family proud of me and be more cool about my Mario Sports hobbies?
I ask these questions. Mercy does not give the golden answer for those, well, it kind of does. The song is saying regardless of what that big meaning of life answer is, mercy will prevail and we, together, can make something of life:
“Mercy will we overcome this
Oh one by one could we turn it around
Maybe carry on just a little bit longer
And I try to give you what you need”
Now, I’m a believer in Jesus; Dave Matthews is most likely agnostic (based on a 2001 quote). So I’m about to take this song a step further than Dave probably planned to.
I believe as a follower of Jesus that God has a plan for each and every one of us: every choice and moment of our life has a direction God has for us to go. Now some young adult believers like me believed that this meant every single step of our life has a specific action God wants us to take. Every decision has a fork in the road with two fat signs saying “Going with God” and “God does not want you to go this direction.”
I’ve learned as I grow in my faith and maturity as an adult an important lesson: God isn’t that specific. He calls us to go into all the world and preach the Gospel — the good news of what Jesus did for us — and make disciples. Where I get gas tomorrow does not necessarily make a massive impact on this mission, but how I go about getting gas tomorrow might. How I take a call from a client at work, checking out of an airbnb on our next National Park adventure, how I tip the waiter/waitress on date night, etc., all have an effect on the big mission.
So tying it back with Mercy, approach life with a little more levity today. Don’t let the little things sway you, and instead sway with the nearest music you can find. Literally dance. Find connections to do life with. As Liverpool fans sing every home game, you’ll never walk alone. What you’re going through can be overcome.
