I'm not sure if you could tell or not, but I like music...a lot!
Mostly, I love when people put great, beautiful, and inspiring art out into the world. Great Songs are art, and that art can help us to think, reflect, dance, and - most importantly - be positive! See, each one of us has hard days where we just walk around in a funk. My hope is that some of these songs will help guide you through that, and help you see the world for the beautiful and messed up place that it is. I want to provide you with songs that I love - songs that I hope you'll love to!
First up, it's the song "30,000 Feet," by Ben Rector.
Ben Rector is one of my favorite artists and songwriters! Maybe you've heard me cover one of his songs, "Brand New," at a conference, camp, retreat, etc. I love his approach to songwriting because he crafts relatable, story-driven lyrics that I truly admire!
This song, "30,000 Feet," tells a story of the getting on a plane and meeting a fellow passenger. That passenger is a bit nervous for his first flight, and strikes up a conversation with Ben. That conversation leads to some real perspective, which can be summed up with the lyrical line of, "Yeah, looking down from 30,000 feet, life's been good to me."
This song puts me into a very relaxed and settled place. The beautiful yet simple chord progression played on the piano adds to the feeling of reflection and seeing the good things that have happened in your life. For me, I know that there are times when I'm stressed, overwhelmed, burned out, and frustrated. Maybe I've been traveling for a few weeks in a row and really just wish I could see my family and pet my dog, maybe I've been slammed at work and feel like I haven't had a moment to myself. Whatever the moment is, I can play this song and it helps me to...re-center.
I take a step back and realize just how blessed I am. I love traveling, I love playing music for others, I love leading others in worship of our God, I love meeting new people, I love my job. Sure these things can become overwhelming at times, but I'm so grateful that I get to do them! This song helps me remember to do that; be grateful and truly see how blessed I am. The lyric is, "life's been good to me," but I'm usually thinking about just how good God has been to me.
Sometimes we just need to take a step back. "Sometimes it takes the sky, to see what's on the ground."
~Alex