Run For Your Life

"Run For Your Life" ~The Fray

I couldn't decide which Fray song to share cuz I've been putting on a couple of them on repeat hahaa, but I think this one wins out :]. I wouldn't consider this a praise song, but definitely a really encouraging song to chew on. It's just my interpretation, and it could be "right" or not, in an interpretive sense or spiritual sense too, if you any thoughts about it, comment :D!

17 years by her side
broke the same bread, wore the same clothes and you said,
We're sisters with nothing between
If one of us fall, the other will soon be following...

Both of you fell the same day,
you don't know why,  but one of you never woke up
and you lay your body down on the floor
desperate to hear her footsteps again
..but this house is on fire, and we need to go..

Woah, You don't have to go it alone, go it alone

Run for your life, my love
Run and you don't give up
with all that you are, all that you want
I will be close behind
Run for your life

She had a fire inside, and that terrified you
you swore you'd never lose your control
Baby, let yourself go, cuz part of you hides
and I know the hunger inside of you's strong
You can only hold back the river so long..

 Woah, You don't have to go it alone, go it alone

Run for your life, my love
Run and you don't give up
with all that you are, all that you want

Run for your life right now
and if you don't know how
I'll go back with you, take all that's true,
leave all that's burned behind
Run for your life

Woah, You don't have to go it alone...

I feel like there's so much I can say about this song. What I really enjoy about songs by the Fray is that their songs are like poems or abstract paintings, which at first glance can be simply pretty yet confusing, but when you sit and digest for a while, can bring about some really awesome reflections.

The story being painted here as it starts in the first verse is one of intense loss.. an incomparably close relationship ending prematurely.. The one sister who is left, perhaps wondering why this all happened and simply longing for a return to what was, but if she stays in her sorrow, she will surely be lost as well. (But this house is on fire, and we need to go..) It's so hard to let go of what's past. Perhaps this can represent our shame, guilt or pain--the relationships lost, the "what ifs," etc.

I interpret this song to say this: from all the pain and guilt that we experience, for the sake our lives, we gotta get out of that burning house. (Run for your life...) If we stayed in our guilt and pain, we will get consumed and burned up along with it. And the only chance at actual living is to leave it behind.

(You don't have to go it alone...I will be close behind...
And if you don't know how, I'll go back with you, take all that's true, leave all that's burned behind.)

But it's definitely scary to leave it all behind... but you are not alone. There are others who are running for their lives too; everyone experiences sorrow and shame that they need to leave behind. I can imagine this song being sung by a friend for me, reminding me that they'll be with me every step of the way. I think that's why I really like this song; I think it's meant to be an encouragement to us who are guilt- or pain-ridden, and it's meant for us to sing to our family and friends as well, for us to be there for each other when we really don't know how to get out of our burning homes.

[btw, I wanna congratulate you for reading this far, I am very long winded xD]

Perhaps this song is comparable to the verse in Hebrews 12:1-3
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

That's something this song may be missing, but I would like to add: our brokenness is what causes us run to Jesus. And where are we running to anyways? How would we save our lives? Only by "fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith". I'm realizing that God doesn't necessarily want us to run from our brokenness, but to allow that brokenness to move us--make us RUN--to Him.

But I DO want to sing this kind of song for my brothers and sisters; that I'd be willing to run along with them, to go back to all the burned, and to stick close. Needless to say, I really like this song :].