Why Waving or Drowning?

Mike's Note: This was written in 2007. It still feels appropriate, so here is my original explanation of the name of this blog:

OK, if you're reading this then you're probably curious about the blog name.

Thanks for the suggestions. Although I did give some serious thought to eMpTy Thoughts (thanks Pete) and some of the others, I've gone with Dan's idea. We've just fleshed it out a little on an MSN Messenger chat.

When I read Dan's comment the words of one of my favorite Caedmon's Call songs popped into my head.

Love Alone

No one would love me
If they knew all the things I hide
My words fall to the floor
As tears drip through the telephone line

And the hands I've seen
Raised to the sky
Not waving but drowning
All this time
I'll try to build the ark that they need
To float to you upon the crystal sea

Give me your hand to hold
Cause I can't stand to love alone
And love alone is not enough
To hold us up we've got to touch your robe
So swing your robe down low
Swing your robe down low

The Prince of Despair's been beaten
But the loser still fights
Death's on a long leash
Stealing my friends to the night

And everyone cries for innocent
You say to love the guilty, too
And I'm surrounded by suffering and sickness
So I'm working tearing back the roof

Give me your hand to hold...

And the pain of the world is a burden
And it's my cross to bear
And I stumble under all the weight
I know you're Simon standing there
And I know you're standing there

Give me your hand to hold...

Then Dan sent me this poem...

Not Waving But Drowning
by Stevie Smith

Nobody heard him, the dead man,
But still he lay moaning:
I was much further out than you thought
And not waving but drowning.

Poor chap, he always loved larking
And now he's dead
It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way,
They said.

Oh, no no no, it was too cold always
(Still the dead one lay moaning)
I was much too far out all my life
And not waving but drowning.

That's a little darker image, perhaps, but still appropriate. The idea of waving or drowning can be, unfortunately, an accurate metaphor as we travel together on our various spiritual journeys. (Notice I'm avoiding the word "church".) As we walk along the shore we may see our friends out in the surf "waving at us". We wave back and keep walking. Except they weren't waving.