Ticking Time Bombs
Copyright 2010, by Victoria Bailey

There's a little town with a train going through
And I cannot stop it-
My thinking of you

Ticking time bombs and the weight of it all
There are miles in between us
There is grace to cover us so

I'm a quiet woman who can't seem to find the words
There is hope in my head-
A blessing and a curse

Ticking time bombs and the weight of it all
There are miles in between us
There is grace to cover us so

Love, take over
Love, take over
Love, cover over all my wrong

Ticking time bombs and the weight of it all
There are miles in between us
There is grace to cover us so

I wrote most of this song in the early spring of this year. We almost recorded it in Nashville in April, but it ended up on the studio cutting room floor. The melody was great, but the chords and picking pattern didn't fit the song. And what I realized this week is that the original bridge didn't make sense. Ultimately, this song wasn't at the time what it was meant to be.

I've been thinking a lot these past two weeks about two biblical promises of love--
Perfect love drives out fear.
Love covers over all wrongs.

Emotionally, the song is based on my experience of simultaneously having a deep longing for one person, but discovering my surprising amount of affection for someone else. Although what I felt for them has since dissipated, I find that the same theme has recurred months later. And as much as I want to love rightly, I continue to mess up and not love well.

Thomas Merton speaks of the good of the beloved. Love is not self-seeking. There is no fear in loving him whose good is what I hope for. Everything else falls away.

And so I need Love to take over. Merton says that in loving our brother, not only should our love be selfless, but we should love as if God's providence in his life depends on our loving him well. I'm no good at it, and so, I need Love to take over when I try and fail and I need Love to cover over all the wrong I do in the process.