March 18 // Light a Candle + the Family Scripts Playlist!

When we feel overwhelmed by darkness, music might be just what we need.

When we’re going through hard times and don’t know how to process our feelings, it’s amazing that music can express the feelings for us. When we don’t have the words, songs give us words. It’s a mystery, really, how much music can help and change us.

Andy Gullahorn is one of my favorite songwriters, and his song “Light A Candle” is extremely relatable right now. The lyrics are in the video’s description and Genius.

Sometimes all this pain and sadness

Is more than a heart can handle

But I’m tired of cursing at the darkness

I’m gonna light a candle

-Andy Gullahorn, “Light A Candle”

It’s such a helpless, awful feeling that we can’t fix the suffering for the nation of Ukraine. We can’t stop the invasion of their home. We can’t hold the orphaned babies or hold the hands of weeping women.

I feel this way about the heartbreaking things that happen here in my own city, too, or when I talk to people at church who are older than me and have endured tragedy after tragedy. The darkness just feels so big and I’m so small.

As a Christian, I am so grateful I can bring my big feelings to a God who sees and cares and weeps. My friend Yoko’s husband is Ukrainian and she said Psalm 46 is what their family is holding onto.

But I can also move forward. I can light a candle in the darkness closest to me. I can bring a little bit of cheer and comfort to the hurting people in my life. I can’t stop political oppression, but I can be nice to the people in the grocery store. As Jon Foreman sings, “Love Is The Rebel Song.”

What can you do to light a candle this week and bring a little bit of brightness to a world that feels dark right now?

Family Scripts Official Playlist

Because we believe in the power of storytelling through song, Becca and I have been working on a Family Scripts playlist for you all! Here’s the link for Spotify and for Apple Music. We would love recommendations of your favorite songs that are full of peace, beauty, and meaning.

Here are some favorites from the playlist that are specifically for hard times:

If you want a faith-based playlist, you’ll want to check out the thoughtfully curated “Songs for Hard Seasons” by Caroline Cobb (who is an excellent singer-songwriter herself.)

Hopefully that helps. I wrote more about this topic here. Every time we show love and compassion, it’s an act of resistance against self-interest and greed. It's like lighting a candle.

Warmly,

Hope and the Family Scripts team

Feel free to share this post with a friend!

P.S. I would love to hear about songs that have helped you process sad events or that you think belong in the Family Scripts playlist. Reply to this email or leave a comment about it!