The Long Winter - a second taster

Hope you've all had lovely Christmases (a word I've never written down, which looks quite strange...) and are looking forward to good an exciting year!

For me the last few weeks were slightly strange, as my Dad and brother came to my (grown-up) house, and I didn't go back to my parents for Christmas only the second time ever. The reason for this, my mum's death, was the same reason that I wrote this next song. The song, called 'The Echo', is written from a place of great suffering, and begins with a cry of pain from man. The second half is written from God's point of view, and recognises that in all the mess of the world, we don't cry out alone. We cry out with God. And the order there is important. God's pain and anger at evil, suffering, and this world's brokenness, comes before, and is deeper than ours. In this, even the most heart-felt, gut-wrenching cry of pain from man, God has been there before, and our cries, they echo his. For me, this provides little relief, but great solace and comfort.

Oh Heaven don't you know, I wasn't built for this?
The holes in my skin, let the rain into my soul.
I float just beneath the surface of the sea.

And it would be, so easy just to sink.

Oh Heaven don't you know, I wasn't built for this?
The holes in my skin, let the rain into my soul.
I float just beneath the surface of the sea.
The shadow beneath, creeps frightfully close.

And it would be, so easy just to sink.
Without your arm around my waist.

'Son I know, and your tears,
Your tears they echo mine.

Son I know, and your cry:
'This can't be right'
Your cry it echoes mine.'