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CLEVELAND, Ohio – When it comes to pop culture, calling me an “idiot” would be kind. It was one of the reasons I decided to read a Wall Street Journal story by Stephanie Burt headlined: "The Misunderstood Genius of Taylor Swift.“ I was aware of her celebrity and popularity. But I couldn’t name even one of her songs. I wasn’t even sure I had ever heard one. The story opened by mentioning Swift’s 2010 big hit "You Belong With Me." I looked it up on YouTube. Google said the theme was “about a girl who is in love with her male best friend who is in a relationship with a girl who doesn’t appreciate him. He is unaware of his friend’s feelings, and she feels that she knows him better than his current girlfriend does.” More Faith & You by Terry Pluto Are you haunted by the same dreams, over & over? – Terry Pluto’s Faith & You Grave sites: A place to remember, a place to apologize – Terry Pluto’s Faith & You Readers on cemeteries: Leave a penny, shed some tears, take some hope – Terry Pluto’s Faith & You Do you visit grave sites? Tell me about it – Terry Pluto’s Faith & You How a 99 mph fastball to the face shows the good heart of two men – Terry Pluto’s Faith & You Some of the lyrics: If you could see that I’m the one who understands you Been here all along, so why can’t you see? You belong with me, you belong with me The bigger point I thought about the song and the title. Then I realized a bigger question not only was at the heart of the song, but also hangs over our lives: Where do I belong? Some of us may be wrestling with that right now. I just got divorced, where do I belong? I just got laid off, where do I belong? I just lost a spouse, where do I belong? I just graduated from school, where do I belong? I just was ghosted by a friend, where do I belong? I just found out I have a terrible disease and can’t do the things I once did – where do I belong? Swift’s song really wasn’t about how the boyfriend “belongs with me.” It is about a girl wondering, where do I belong? Dark Night of the Soul There are times when I read a phrase and wish I had written it. The Dark Night of the Soul is on that list. It was from St. John of the Cross, a monk who clashed with the religious power structure and was tossed in prison. The University of Notre Dame website Faith ND wrote “In December of 1577, John was kidnapped in Ávila by a group of Calced Carmelites. They brought John to the Carmelite monastery in Toledo and held him prisoner in a tiny cell, six feet by ten feet, with only a small window to let in light. John was beaten at least once a week in front of the community, and forced to live on small scraps of food, yet, in his captivity, he began to write some of his most beautiful poems and spiritual treatises.” Thinking about that, with a little Taylor Swift tossed in, led me to write: In the darkest night of soul Where do I belong? When I feel so all alone And my days are so long Where do I belong? Where do I belong? Garden of Doubt The challenge of “Where do I belong?” is when we believe we have the answer to the question – something happens to shake our world. One of my favorite Bible stories is when Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane. He knows he’s about to be crucified. He asked his disciples to come pray with him. It’s late at night, perhaps the Midnight Hour. They keep falling asleep. “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” Jesus tells his friends in Matthew 26:38, pleading with them to stay awake with him. He was feeling abandoned by his friends. He worried his prayers that “this cup would pass” would not be answered. “Being in anguish, he prayed even more earnestly. His sweat was like blood dropping to the ground.” (Luke 22:44). That passage led to me to write: I remember when you were in the garden and you didn’t hide your tears … In the darkest night of your soul, you let us see your fears … Where do I belong? We all go through it All of us will have Garden of Gethsemane nights. I had more than a few when dealing with various elderly people and their health-care challenges. That led me to call out to God and say, “I don’t know what to do!” I really was saying, “This will never end … and I don’t belong here.” But in the end, God does take us through the darkest moments of our soul. Part of surviving it is praying Honest to God prayers. I thought back to my father’s 4½-year battle with a stroke, to finding a close friend dead on her living room floor – and remembering when God was there even when it didn’t feel like it. I don’t hear from God all the time, but there are moments … that led me to write this: In the darkest night of my soul I remember when I heard you whisper You belong to me.
