I hope at this point in your relationship with Through The Noise you’ve had a chance to look at the playlists that I’ve curated. If you’ve done so, you noticed a country playlist, then a hip-hop playlist, and then one centered on actively loving others. But then you eventually stumbled across one called “Just Fun”. Or maybe that was the first one you encountered (talk about first impressions). So the brand is called Through The Noise and the focus is all about promoting music with deeper meanings, which creates a disconnect when you find that one of my four playlists is composed of nothing but absolutely absurd songs. How does “Rub Some Bacon On It” cut through the noise?
Well, it doesn’t.
As I curate these playlists I’m pulling from my life experiences and from the life experiences that have been shared with me from friends and family. I want to compile lists of songs that a person can turn to whenever a time in their life warrants that subject to be addressed in song. So at the end of the day, I believe playlists have the capability to serve you in almost any piece of your life. I know they have for me.
With that in mind, I want you to picture your life 100% sober. I don’t mean like sober from the influence of substances, but that’s important, too! The sober life is the life. But like I want you to picture your life full of nothing but analytical, philosophical, and critical thinking. Maybe you can’t think of the last time your mind ventured into that world and, for you, I’d encourage you to give it a whirl. Or maybe you’re like me and the inclination is always to ask why, why, why until you find the deeper answer to every question or dilemma encountered. Really, I hope you find yourself somewhere in between because I think that’s where one is healthiest. See, the point is that we’re not made to be productive all the time (that hurts to write) or to answer all of life’s questions—those extreme mentalities prove to be quite unsustainable after a period of time. Rather, we were made to kick back and relax at times—physically, mentally, and socially.
I remember one night last year I walked across Messiah University’s campus experiencing the worst season of personal stress to date. And as my heart was just so consumed with everything that I felt pressuring me, I was interrupted by the obnoxious laughter and yelling of a group of guys from a way off. At first, I was really irritated. I mean, here I was stressed out the wazoo with important things and the last thing I wanted was to be mentally interrupted by unimportant noise.
But praise God I took second thought to the matter. Even though the things they were saying and laughing about didn’t add a thing to their understanding of the world, it was good. Even though Ukraine was being invaded and children starve to death, and their laughter did the oppressed no good, their laughter was good. I had to look at that group of undeniably obnoxious guys and admit that they were full of unwarranted joy. And that it was a beautiful thing. I think God was looking down on that group with joy because of their joy. I think that regardless of the hurt and pressures evident in our world, the Creator made us to, at times, ignore it all and to just have fun for fun’s sake. Really, I’ve come to believe that glorifies Him. So in other words, being out of line with expectations is in line with God’s design for us, which is why the “Just Fun” playlist exists. I’m not saying you should use absurdity as an escape, but there is something beautiful about denying yourself seriousness and jamming out to “Pizza Angel”. Because at the end of the day, the world is in God’s hands, He is good, and so life is good. And it’s okay to use absurdity as an outlet for your joy. For real, I hope the Just Fun playlist can be a blessing to you. If you’ve not done so already, put the playlist on shuffle and, if you like it, add it to your library! Or you can always pick out the bangers and add them to your own playlist, that’s perfectly legitimate, too.