Winning the War

I love The Weepies. “How You Survive the War” is on their new album, Hideaway, and it was the first song that really got me hooked on the new release. The title track is awesome, too, and “Can’t Go Back Now” is my current favorite. 

But yesterday, these words from “How You Survive the War” struck home in way they hadn’t before:

You’re not gonna lose / This one / You don’t have to cut / And run / I think you can choose / To love and what is more/ That is how / You survive the war

Yesterday was a long day for both Chris and me, but we had scheduled a date night, and we both tried so hard to put on happy faces and have a good time. We went bowling, and Chris immediately put his game face on and dug in. I did semi-well through the first game, but by the middle of the second game, my mind was so distracted that I kept throwing gutter ball after gutter ball.

Finally we gave up on our happy faces and just talked, and it was good. By the end of the night, I realized that we get so caught up in the day to day grind, just trying to survive the war. But the truth is that we are called to more than surviving the war.

We can choose to put love first, and actively live a lifestyle of love, putting our relationships first and the needs of others before our own needs and wants. In this way, we can rise above the daily grind and lift ourselves out of “survival” mode.

That is how we win the war.