Message

As the beloved French folk say, "Adieu," which translates "I commend you to God!" And, you are dear class of 2011, set off to go on your pilgrimage, wherever that journey takes you and whoever that life begs you to become, not alone and with God.

Our hearts and prayers go with you as you venture out and become! Remember always who you are, sons and daughters of a loving and living Creator who hopes, in every moment, on your ever becoming real grown - ups, lovers and caretakers of God's creation, transformers of this world.

Your presence is already missed. Evenso, we await your myriad returnings in life story and song, tales told and songs sung of Innocents' claiming a world that is filled with light, born of justice, and ever proclaiming of peace.

"I don’t want to have lived in vain, like most people. I want to be useful or bring enjoyment to people, even those I have never met. I want to go on living, even after my death. And that’s why I am grateful to God for having given me this gift which I can use to develop and
express all that’s inside me."
*Anna Frank

Reflection - Julie, 'Gotta Be Somebody' by NIckleback

“Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction.”

Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Antoine is exactly right when he says this. I have loved many people in my life, but not as much as I love the person I am with now. This quote really speaks to me because of the outlook I have on love at this time. Love is never about the physical happiness, but loving a person's personality, ideas, and passions they possess. People tend to fall in love with one another because of where they are going in the future. It is a natural occurrence that only happens, if you’re lucky, once in a lifetime. People tend to find their soul mates through shared experiences, similar outlooks on life, and how much time you spend with them. But being in love with another person does not always mean you spend all of your time with them. I believe what the author is trying to say in this quote is that love is not just about being with that person, but about sharing your desires of life with them. It is not made up of dates, presents, and marriage, it is all about how you share your life together spiritually and emotionally. God brings the person you are supposed to be with to you. If you have the same outlook on God, you are very spiritually connected. You are more connected through the love of God and not by the love and obsession with one another’s physical attributes. Love is kind and we are all connected through God.

Reflection - Sarah, 'My Wish' by Rascal Flatts

But more than anything, more than anything,
My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to,
Your dreams stay big, and your worries stay small,
You never need to carry more than you can hold,
And while you're out there getting where you're getting to,
I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,
Yeah, this, is my wish.

I heard this song about two years ago and I absolutely fell in love with this song. While thinking about this class, this song seems to fit perfectly with everything that we have covered in this class. I especially love this song because it always makes me think about the power of the human being. When I think about the Meaning of the Universe I believe that the greatest power lies in the hands of God’s people. My favorite part of this song is the chorus because it is filled with powerful messages and I think that the chorus mirrors my personal belief of the meaning of the universe. For me, the most important thing and the most powerful thing that a human being can do in his/her lifetime is to help those around him/her and more importantly to wish good blessings on others even if they are not the best of people. The belief that everyone is beloved goes closely with this song. Even if people make bad decisions in their life or behave cowardly at times, everyone is born beloved and all people in this world should wish good wishes on every person, not just the ones who they know personally. The chorus of this song is perfect at exemplifying my beliefs because in the chorus, all people are blessed with good wishes and not just those people who are the world leaders or who are known to make a difference. Not only is the message of blessing and prayer in this song, I also think this song has an important message about helping others through community service. Even though the song does not specifically say to volunteer many hours to help rebuild houses in New Orleans or in Haiti, more importantly, the song mentions the importance of all the little things in life. The most important message this song portrays is the idea that people need to be willing to go out of their way and show others they care for them through smiling, holding a door, or simply welcoming someone in need into your home. I hope that everyone gets a chance to listen to this song because I believe that it is full of very powerful words teaching very important life lessons.

Reflection - Kendall, 'Free Fallin' ' by Tom Petty and sung by John Mayer

John Mayer's version of Free Fallin' is one of my favorite songs. It is a fun song to play on the guitar because it is in my perfect voice range and is sweet sounding. The first line describes me: "she's a good girl loves her Momma, loves Jesus, and America too". Having a light feel to it, this song is able to characterize my personality because I am a very light-hearted and happy person. But Tom Petty wrote the lyrics describing a break up he regrets. While the melody is delicate and lighthearted, the lyrics behind the music describe a loss of a relationship. I have had many friendships that have withered away and they have caused a tremendous amount of emotional tension in my life. During these friendships I saw somewhat of a free fall, where things were going great and then I realized that it was not a healthy friendship for me to be in just before it ended, hitting the ground. But looking back at them I realize I regret the decisions I made to end the friendships that could have been great, had I devoted the time to work on them. But after being blessed to be a part of this wonderful class, I realized that I can be chosen and blessed in a relationship that is healthy and that allows me to grow in myself. I now have a friendship with a dear friend Olivia where I have truly given myself and have been able to develop a strong friendship that I will have for the rest of my life with no fear of “free falling”. Looking at the last verse of this song really shows my high school career coming to an end. Relating the last couple of lines back to myself, as I come closer to graduation I notice that I am trying to slow time down because once I “leave this world” or state to go to university, my friendships will go through the test of time and I am trying to save every moment I possibly can to savor the memories I have made here.

She’s a good girl

Loves her mama

Loves Jesus

And America too

She’s a good girl

Crazy ‘bout Elvis

Loves horses

And her boyfriend too, yeah, yeah

And it’s a long day

Livin’ in Reseda

There’s a freeway runnin’ through the yard

I’m a bad boy

‘cause I don’t even miss her

I’m a bad boy

For breakin’ her heart

And I’m free free fallin’ fallin’

And I’m free free fallin’ fallin’

All the vampires

Walkin’ through the valley

They move west down

Ventura Boulevard

And all the bad boys

Are standing in the shadows

And the good girls

Are home with broken hearts

I wanna glide down over Mulholland

I wanna write her her name in the sky

I’m gunna free fall out ito nothin’

Oh I’m gonna leve this this world for a while

Reflection - Alex, 'Feelin' Good' by Michael Buble

“Feelings, whether of compassion or irritation, should be welcomed, recognized, and treated on an absolutely equal basis; because both are ourselves. The tangerine I am eating is me. The mustard greens I am planting are me. I plant with all my heart and mind. I clean this teapot with the kind of attention I would have were I giving the baby Buddha or Jesus a bath.

Nothing should be treated more carefully than anything else. In mindfulness, compassion, irritation,

mustard green and teapot are all sacred.”

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926- )

There is a great truth that is spoken in this quote. We all have an ugly side, and although we often choose to disown and hide it, it is indeed a part of us. We all have feelings that are angry or mean or evil or unkind, and secretly we acknowledge it. It is the dirty laundry of our mind, and like laundry, if we choose to bury and hide it, the pile only accumulates more as time goes on. We have to wash our dirty laundry by acknowledging it and confronting it instead of letting the smell grow. These thoughts are also like laundry because everyone has them. We are all equally guilty of fostering thoughts of an undesirable nature at some point or another. We should not be ashamed for having fostered such thoughts. What we should be ashamed of is our denial of such thoughts. We should be ashamed if instead of confronting these thoughts we flee from them, as if somehow if we run fast enough we can escape the darkness in them, when that darkness is part of us. We needn’t fear the dark side of ourselves, for darkness is only the absence of light. It is important for us to illuminate these thoughts with equal light as we do our loving and kind thoughts, for each is an integral part of us. Without dark there is no light, no hot without cold, no good without evil, no left without right, and no high without low.

Reflection - Jade, 'Bruised' by Jack's Mannequin

I have chosen to reflect on the song “Bruised” by Jack’s Mannequin because it is not only my favorite song, but also, every time it comes on whether it be in the car or in my room, it seems to speak to me with its calm and telling lyrics. Besides the lyrics being so compelling and real, this song also touches my life because it reminds me of certain instances and a certain time period in my life. Throughout my sophomore and junior year, I went through stages that we discussed in class after reading Life of the Beloved; a time that I felt both blessed and broken alternately. I feel that there are rarely things in life that can comfort someone in both times of happiness and sadness but this song did and still does just that. This song is about finding oneself as you lose another. The chorus of the song discusses counting minutes and making time last. These couple of verses immediately remind me of a Life of the Beloved passage about taking advantage of life and not living in such an “autopilot” mode. As I previously mentioned, being broken directly relates to this song and being broken after losing someone you have loved. Not literally losing someone necessarily but losing them in spirit. The times of brokenness that are spoken of in this song are very realistic and relate to my life in general. The peace and well being that I feel after listening to this song is something that almost nothing else could compare to.

Reflection - Kyle, 'Furr' by Blitzen Trapper

Foremost, whenever I hear this song, the lyrics are almost alive. They create an amazing, movie-like sequence that I replay every time I hear it. One thing that grabs my attention first is the way in which the boy, near our age, walks around with nature. Many times have I gone over to the national park near my home and run the trails there. I understand why people retreat into nature, seeing how serene it is. I love the way he refers to the she-wolf as his “mother”, and her howls are like a dinner bell, calling him home. The way people isolate themselves from nature has always confused me; we are just a part of nature as the ant we step on or the snake in the garden. His retreat back, literally, into nature is what strikes me the most, becoming synonymous with nature and becoming wild while throwing away artificial things like objects and society. Like in literary Romanticism, nature and God are the same, just like in the song and how he turns his “obedience to God” as he howls with his wolf family. The chorus also speaks to me in a way I interpret it to mean everything is skin deep. You can wear your skin, but what matters is not what is on the outside and what people see of you, but what you have created for yourself internally. This is what I think the most important part is, the internal truth and having it howl to the highest truth: the mixture of nature and God.