Click HERE to view Rev. Jimmie Scott’s guided meditation during the service.
SONG LYRICS
Sitting by a foggy window
Staring at the pouring rain
Falling down like lonely teardrops
Memories of love in vain
These cloudy days
Make you want to cry
It breaks your heart when someone leaves
And you don’t know why
I can see that you’ve been hurting
Baby I’ve been lonely too
I’ve been out here lost and searching
Looking for a girl like you
Now I believe the sun is gonna shine
Don’t you be afraid to love again
Put your hand in mine
Baby
I would never make you cry
I would never make you blue
I would never let you down
I would never be untrue
I know a place
Where we can go
Where true love always stays
There’s no more stormy nights
No more cloudy days
I believe in second chances
I believe in angels too
I believe in new romances
Baby I believe in you
These cloudy days
Are coming to an end
And you don’t have to be afraid to fall in love again
Baby
I would never make you cry
I would never make you blue
I would never turn away
I would never be untrue
I know a place
Where we can go
Where true love always stays
There’s no more stormy nights
No more cloudy days
MESSAGE
So how many people here have ever had your heart broken so badly that you thought the pain would never end? Anybody? And how many people have ever put your heart out there to love somebody, but they didn’t love you back the way you wanted them to love you? And how many people have ever wanted to love really big — love out loud — but you got scared that you might get hurt or rejected? Anybody hold back in love?
You know, why are these experiences so universal? And so common? The reason is because we all want to be loved! We all need and desire love. Love is absolutely vital to our survival. I read a study that said that love is a biological necessity for our survival; for our happiness; and our well-being. That every one of us absolutely needs to be loved and nurtured. And we also need to express love and care for others.
The greatest commandment is to love. Paul said, “Love is the fulfilling of the Law.” Corinthians says that you can have everything — possessions and knowledge — but if you don’t have love, you don’t have anything.
Love is so significant that, if we are deprived of love as youngsters, it will actually affect our development physically, mentally, emotionally and socially. That we will not be able to cope or handle certain emotions; it’ll be harder for us to be in relationships; harder to feel a level of self-worth and to achieve the things we could achieve. From the time we’re born to the time we die, we all seek and desire love.
And love is kind of a strange thing. For years we’ve studied love and written about love; thought about love. There’s so many books written about love. All sorts of poetry; romance novels; how to find someone to love; how to keep the person you love; how to fix love. We’ve got all kinds of books that tell us those things.
And songs! There are crazy amounts of songs about love! There are three categories of all love songs: there are positive ones; uncertain ones; and negative ones. These are all song titles I’m going to read you. Here are some of the positive ones: All You Need Is Love; The Best of My Love; Endless Love; Higher Love; The Power of Love; The Greatest Love of All; I Just Called to Say I Love You; I Will Always Love You; Can You Feel the Love Tonight? Don’t you feel some warm fuzzies just hearing the titles? So those are the positive ones.
But here are the uncertain ones: I Want to Know What Love Is. [Congregation laughs] Where Is the Love? How Deep is Your Love? Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? What’s Love Got to Do With It? You can feel the uncertain and confusion about love in those songs.
Then it gets downright dirty and negative and harsh. These are actual song titles! Love Stinks! [Congregation laughs] Love Lies; Love Hurts; Love Bites; Stupid Love; Tainted Love; Addicted to Love; I Will Never Love This Way Again; You Give Love a Bad Name; I’m Through with Love; Down with Love. Bye Bye Love. No warm fuzzies there, right? [Congregation laughs]
It is amazing the range of feelings we have about this mysterious, amazing, wonderful, vital thing we need for our lives. Today we’re talking about love as we get to Week #5 of our five-week Fall version series of “The Songs of Love.”
As you know, I was blessed to be the number eight kid out of ten. That meant I got exposed to a ton of music, from classical music to Indian sitar music; to calypso; to reggae — I was born in the Caribbean, so you had to get all that. The Percy Faith Orchestra; my brother used to love Brook Benton and Perry Como; Engelbert Humperdinck. From the Beatles; Pink Floyd … I mean, it just went all over the place. I was a kid, so I had to listen to it. So I have no musical talent, but I love music! I think we all love and are touched by music.
So for 20 years I’ve been doing these “Songs of Life” — famous songs, and finding a spiritual message. Because music touches us in an amazing way. And I think there are wonderful life lessons exist in there for us.
Week #1 we did “You Say” by Laura Daigle, and it was about believing, especially believing in yourself. Week #2: Ringo Starr’s “It Don’t Come Easy.” That life can get better, but it don’t come easy. You’ve got to let go of the past; open yourself to peace; and open your heart. Week #3 we looked at “Memories” by Maroon 5, which is about how you deal with loss. You know, how we grieve and move through the memories to make our lives even better now. And then last week we did “Stepping Out”: how to get out of a funk. To step out you’ve got to step away; step in; and then step up.
And today we’re going to close with the 2007 beautiful song by the Eagles, written by Glenn Frey, called “No More Cloudy Days.”
And it’s a bit of an emotional song. This song is about the sadness of a break-up. And it’s got a sense of melancholy, but it’s got a sense, I think, of hope and comfort and reassurance. And it’s got an uplifting message. I love the imagery of the dark, rainy nights and the cloudy days, but the sun will shine again.
How many people, when you hear that, your heart feels open and you could absolutely relate to the song? How many? Everybody? Okay; I’m going to pretend everybody just raised their hand. [Congregation laughs]
The thing is that, while we all need love, one of the things about life is sometimes love hurts. Sometimes we feel betrayed. Sometimes we’re heartbroken and disappointed for a variety of reasons. And unfortunately, our reaction can sometimes be that we withdraw. That sometimes we run away or just give up on love. Or we withhold and become cynical.
And so we need a reminder like the singer of the song that is so reassuring: that the sun will shine again; that we will love again; that we will fall in love again.
So today let’s look at three important messages I think the song is teaching us about heartbreak; about how to deal with the difficult side of love.
And the first one is to realize that everybody’s got cloudy days. We all do! And, yes, often from a heartbreak; a relationship ending. But there are a variety of difficulties with families; with children; with work; with finances that break our hearts, as well. That leave us feeling in a dark place; a lonely place … wondering what the solution is or will this ever work out. And one of the greatest things that can uplift us in those dark difficult times is THE POWER OF HOPE. You know, hope is that belief that, no matter’s going on in the circumstances, that things will get better.
You know the difference between having hope and not having hope is the difference between feeling like a psychological victim vs. a psychological survivor. The difference between being overcome and being an overcomer. Hope is the thing that lets us realize that we can rise again. That even if we have to start all over, we can recover. That we can recreate and rebuild ourselves, and maybe even better than it was before.
I saw a t-shirt that said, “Hope changes everything.” And that’s really true. You ever remember a time when you lost hope? And can you remember a time when you were filled with hope? And wasn’t it a huge difference? That hope changes our vibration. It changes our energy; our outlook; and our mindset. And everything shifts upward. Hope opens the door to optimism. It opens the door to positivity.
And, in fact, we all get knocked down and kicked around. And hope is the thing that we can hold on to … to let us know we can make it through and we can rise again.
Hear the hopeful words in this song:
Now I believe the sun is gonna shine …
I believe in second chances
I believe in angels too
I believe in new romances
Baby I believe in you
These cloudy days
Are coming to an end
That is hope-filled! You know, in 1 Peter, Peter talks about a “living hope.” You know, that hope lives in every one of us. But it is often dormant, and we have to bring it back to life. In the same way that Paul said, “Faith without works is dead.”He’s saying that faith is in you, but you have to bring it to life. And the same is: whatever you’re going through right now that feels hopeless or difficult, that we have to bring that hope alive in ourselves and in our lives again.
When Paul said, “Renew your mind,” that often hope is something we can renew our minds in. Think of a situation in your life now where renewing your mind with hope would be helpful. Renewing your mind with the possibility of something even greater, and what a difference that would make. You know, it might be cloudy now, but brighter days are coming. And we need to hold on to that hope.
Sometimes I think hope does not get as much credit as it deserves. But hope has been attached in studies to academic achievement; to athletic achievement; to performance in work; being more optimistic; having better relationships. There is power in having a sense of hope.
If we lose our hope, we tend to be more pessimistic and be willing to give up quickly and easily. We stop believing in ourselves and others. But when there is hope, we can rise. When there is hope, we can overcome. That where there is hope, we can move beyond the difficulties of our lives.
So where in your life is it time for you to hold on to your hope and to bring hope alive? Even in our greatest heartache, hope is a thing that uplifts us.
The second thing I think we gain from this song is to understand the importance to see and imagine. USE YOUR IMAGINATION TO SEE GREATER POSSIBILITIES. One of the greatest gifts God has given us is the power of the imagination. It is out of the imagination that all the inventions; all the good that comes into our lives comes from. Somebody once said thta imagination is the beginning of creation. That even if it is raining today, you can hold the picture and a vision and see something greater and better for yourself, and the Universe will begin to attract and bring those greater things into your life.
This song says:
I know a place
Where we can go
Where true love always stays
There’s no more stormy nights
No more cloudy days
One of my favorite Scriptures that talks about seeing and visioning something greater is in the Book of Genesis, Chapter 13, Verse 14 and 15. And it says this:
The Lord said unto Abram, after Lot had parted from him, ‘Lift up your eyes, and look from where you stand: northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: And all that you can see from there, I will give you forever.’”
And it’s saying to all of us: from where you stand right now, how far can you see? To the north and south and east and west? How far can you see in terms of your health and fitness? How far can you see in terms of your career and finances? How far can you see in terms of your current relationship or what your next relationship will look like and be? How far can you see in terms of your finances? How far can you see for your future?
Think of a situation that’s concerning for you. And what’s the most optimistic view and image that you could see for yourself in that working out? Because it makes a difference. From where you stand right now, how far can you see?
You know, we live in an abundant universe. We live in a field of infinite possibilities. And it’s our imagination that expands and open yourselves into those areas.
We all get stuck in a rut and routine. But I’ll tell you, but the imagination is the thing that can bust it open to new possibilities and to new experiences in our lives.
Sarah Pachter says, “Imagination is a strong tool that can repair and sustain relationships.” She says that there are two opposing things that we want from all relationships: we want security and we want freedom. And she says the ways is to ask each partner, “When do you feel most secure and when do you feel most of your freedom? And what would that look like for you?” And using the imagination, individually and together, actually can make relationships better. It can also see the future ones and call them forth in greater ways.
The imagination is a tool that we can have to create; to improve and transform our lives. Even with heartache and heartbreak, we have the power to see something greater … and not just wallow and be stuck where we are, but to call ourselves forward to something even greater.
And the last thing is the song I think reminds us that YOU’VE GOT TO KEEP LOVING. You’ve gotta keep loving! No matter how many times your heart has been broken, keep loving! I love when it says:
You don’t have to be afraid to love again …
You don’t have to be afraid to fall in love again.
We all want love, but when we get hurt or betrayed or rejected or dumped — whatever version we feel heartbreak for — our automatic thing is to close off our hearts. To shut down. And it takes many forms: we withdraw; sometimes we push love away; sometimes we won’t let somebody in. Sometimes we cautiously and tentatively …
And we think we’re keeping ourselves safe! Sometimes one way we do it is we start developing rules and strict conditions for love. I’ve got a friend; he went on a date many years ago with a woman. So after a few minutes she said, “Oh, don’t you just love Oprah?” And he said, “Not really.” [Congregation laughs] “You don’t like Oprah?!? You don’t like ….? I could not date a man who doesn’t love Oprah!” And she left the date! [Congregation laughs]
Not that I’m saying there’s anything wrong with checklists and ticking off things and having an idea, but you can get so rigid that we limit love for ourselves and our lives. That story gets more laughs than all the jokes I tell; it’s amazing! [Congregation laughs]
Another thing about closing off our heart: it stops our willingness to be vulnerable. To really share and open ourselves. It is amazing how we block so much love in our lives. And the funny thing is: when we get hurt in love, the first thing we do is want to stop loving. The very thing we want and seek! We stop doing the very thing we want.
And so the message is: keep loving. Keep loving! That if our heart is broken, keep loving all the other people in your life. I mean, who in your life right now needs your encouragement; your support; your care; your understanding; yourappreciation? Who in your life needs your support and care?
I think it’s an important thing when it says here:
I would never make you cry
I would never make you blue
I would never let you down
I would never be untrue
Those are promises made to someone else. But maybe those words are promises we make to ourselves! To love ourselvesbetter. Maybe we need to say to ourselves: I will never be untrue. I would never let you down. I will not you make you feel blue. I will not let you cry. I think we need to love ourselves a whole lot more! We’re so focused when our heart is broken about that person not expressing love, when we need to fill ourselves with love. And to support ourselves and be gentle with ourselves in helping us through those difficult times.
And I think those words there are also reminders that God loves us. And we need to center in the fact that we are unconditionally loved by this incredible Spirit that created us in Its image and likeness. We are created in the image and likeness of love! So the worst thing we could do is to shut down and stop loving! We need to open our hearts and just keep on loving.
I want you to think of somebody in your life that you love right now. Close your eyes for a second. Remember the last time you guys shared a laugh or felt joy. See them in your mind’s eye smiling and laughing. Feel the love in your heart. Okay, everybody; you can open your eyes now. Almost everybody had a smile on their face!
Do you know that if you think about love, it triggers that area in your brain that represents happiness. Just thinking about love makes us happy.
Question: Could you imagine your life without love? Could you imagine your life without that love of that person you just imagined in your mind? And all your other friends and family? And cousins and grandparents and children? Think of all that love! What would it be like if you didn’t have that love? And I would suggest our lives would be empty. It wouldn’t be meaningful.
Sometimes we focus on the one heartache thing and forget all the other love that is always around us. We couldn’t survive without love, and yet we have more love. And you know the best way to get more love is? Keep your heart open and keep on loving!
Do you know what would happen if you loved with everything you’ve got in you? If you emptied yourself of love? You know what would happen? There’d still be more love! You will never run out of love! And the best way to have more of it is to keep sharing it. Keep expressing it in all the different various ways and relationships of your life.
Sometimes we think, “I don’t want to risk my heart in love and get my heart broken.” You know what’s a bigger risk? Notloving. Not caring. Not forgiving. Not sharing. And not being vulnerable. That’s a greater risk. Leo Bascalia put it beautifully. He said, “Don’t miss love. Because if you miss love, you miss life.”
The whole theme of the Bible is to love. To love one another. And even when our heart’s broken, we’ve got to remember: hold on to hope; see greater possibilities for your life; and keep loving.
Maya Angelou said, “Have enough courage to trust love one more time. And always one more time.” Keep loving! That is the message in the song, “No More Cloudy Days.”
God bless you all! [Congregation applauds]
Copyright 2022 Unity of Phoenix Spiritual Center/Rev. Richard Maraj