Right Tune, Wrong Song

There's a new song playing on the radio now by Billy Currington that has the most catchy tune, one that stays in your mind long after it stop's playing.  When you hear it's first notes you can't help but feel a little more peppy and start to sing along.  The only thing is - I hate the words!  It's about a couple who don't love each other anymore and how they should just face the inevitable and call it quits.  The song says, it's no ones fault, but the bells have stopped ringing, the music won't play and that "crazy little feeling" has faded away, it's just Love Done Gone!  I'm always annoyed when it comes on.   A song with these words should not have a catchy, happy tune:

"Like snowflakes when the weather warms up,
Like leaves on the trees when the autumn comes,
Like the dogwood blossoms in the late spring rains,
Like a red kite lost in the big blue sky
It's just love done gone"

But you know as I look at all the above analogies, I see something completely different.  Do you remember late spring snows when the flakes were so big and fluffy you couldn't help but comment on how pretty they were, and then how fast the snow melted leaving needed moisture behind?  And who on earth would not say the leaves on the trees are at their most beautiful in the fall even though you know before long they will fall off?  And yes, the spring storms may knock all the pretty blossoms off the trees and bushes, but in our neck of the woods this year, we found out what a summer without those spring storms was like - brown grass, dried up ponds, rivers, and a temperature so hot most of our gardens wouldn't produce anything!  And I remember flying  kites with the kids and our theory was the more string and the higher we got it to go the better!  It was extremely hard to keep track of that small red dot in the sky, but Oh, how excited the kids would be when one of them spotted it screaming "There it is!" and pointing it out to the rest of us.

I actually agree with the verses, I just come to a different conclusion.  I remember the days in our earlier married days when things were more difficult, disagreements came more often, and ugly words were said.  The storms could come on suddenly, without warning, and leave devastation in their wake.  Sometimes the loving feelings could be awfully hard to find, but when we found them again, the days without were quickly forgotten and we discovered that the  rainy days had watered and nurtured the future, making it that much easier and sweeter.  I try to tell young woman that I am around, that if they lovingly and prayerfully work through the tough times when they are young, struggling to make a living and raise a family, doing their best to put each other first, they will be rewarded with a second honeymoon when they get older and the nest empties.  I think God intended for marriage to get better and better as we get older and I think the troubles he guides us through earlier is all part of the process. We grow and learn from them to make the later years even better.

So now I don't have to cringe when I hear the song come on, I can sing along with Billy with one exception, when he comes to the end of each chorus and sings "It's just Love Done Gone", I belt out louder than him that "IT'S JUST LOVE GOIN' STRONG!"