Surrenderings

Andre 3000s album is timely, it effortlessly matches the autumnal season, and the light shedding that occurs around this time. I saw some videos in which he was so vocal about how, in choosing to be authentic, and going against the grain of what was expected of him as a rapper, led him here.

The album’s constant between peaceful serene tones and warm breezy chords remind me of the finest moments in life, where stillness is all to consume. Thoughts are fleeting, the time and space is an encapsulating presence. The album directs our focus inward and outward to the beauty of what surrounds us, by doing one simple thing; letting go.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot, from my Sunday sermons expressing the fleetingness of life in James 4:14, to recent life experiences of holding onto expectations of others and myself. Nothing still prepares you for the drag that occurs when those expectations are out-staged by life.

Life and its meanderings, flows and lessons have a way of making us surrender to a force beyond our control. Even if we are set on something happening, we’re gracefully reminded to rest in unknowns. Resting in this place is a scary, humbling and somewhat consuming feeling. Its even more real when you are in the midst of being thrust, like a leaf that travels having departed from its branch.

In this moment we’re forced to comply, to the rules of nature. To flow, to be still and sometimes, even fall. If there is anything this album is teaching me, its to surrender, to where the wind blows us.