There’s a mysterious magnetic pull to bands who have been around…The Rolling Stones, U2, Coldplay…the vibe and energy of those particular humans together at the same time does something special to the world around them wherever they go.
I think the reason for the magnetic pull is akin to this…
I’ve played some wedding gigs over the years. They’re fun gigs…hit songs, snappy attire and everyone shows up hoping to have a good time…so they usually do.
I especially like the anniversary dance. The lead singer invites all the married couples onto the dance floor. After a verse and chorus of How Sweet It Is, everyone who has been married less than ten years is told to leave the dance floor…then another verse, maybe a sax solo, and now everyone who has been married twenty years or less has to leave the dance floor…
This keeps going for a while until there’s one couple remaining. They’re old. This isn’t their first dance. They’re happy. They love each other and everyone can see it and feel it. They embrace the joy of the moment but they’re not the ones with tears in their eyes…everyone else is.
Because see, there’s something about a sixty-five year marriage. A magnetic pull. A mystery. Like they know a secret. We feel reverence even though we’ve never met them. We know that sixty-five years means a lot of highs and lows. Lots of life, lots of difficulty. And yet somehow here they are…after all the pain they’ve undoubtedly caused each through over the years, they’re on a dance floor together. Smiling. Looking at one another. Giving all of us a thrill.
It’s redemption.
Redemption has a powerful pull. It’s hard to see it with our eyes but we are drawn to it when it’s there. Our hearts can’t help but respond.
Whether its U2 walking on stage or the old married couple walking onto the dance floor…they walk up there WITH each other despite all the (many) shortfalls. It doesn’t make any sense and yet it clicks with all of us as a deep, worthwhile and rich way to live in relationships.
