Film / Music Relationships Science

Wings Like Eagles and an Unlikely Love Song: Grace Gone Viral

On the viral video front, if you’re feeling bogged down by all the heavy and […]

Matt S / 9.19.13

On the viral video front, if you’re feeling bogged down by all the heavy and life-sapping stuff out there, you’ll be glad to see that in contrast two very life-giving videos have recently landed on YouTube and are worth watching. They each provide a taste of grace. First, there is this one from a camera mounted to an eagle soaring through the French Alps. I want to say that this is what grace feels like: a sense of liberty, awe, beauty, response, and youthfulness (in all the ways that are good). To quote Isaiah:

He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

http://youtu.be/G3QrhdfLCO8&w=600

Or as the Psalmist says:

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Then there is the story of 96-year-old Fred Stobaugh, who wrote a love song on a whim for his recently deceased wife, Lorraine, and submitted it to a songwriting contest. He didn’t win the contest but received something arguably better. One of the contest moderators thought the lyrics were so touching he put the song to music as a gift to Strobaugh. The whole thing is admittedly a bit tug-on-your-heart-stringsy, but because the video has gone absolutely viral and the song is now on the Billboard Top 100, it’s worth paying attention to it. Why are so many having such an emotional/cathartic/tear-jerking response? Well, both the song and video highlight our universal need to be loved and to love, to get the gift and to give it. It is also interesting to note how love can breed creativity, regardless of age: