Love Needs a Heart

I was listening to some old Jackson Browne tunes this morning and it's funny how you hear things in a totally new way after you have turned to Christ, because I heard a song that I have loved since my rock 'n roll days and, ironically, this song comes from Jackson's triple-platinum album "Running on Empty", which catapulted him from obscurity into a major performer in terms of "the world." His first hit record, "Doctor My Eyes", also had spiritual connotation. Another favorite, "Before the Deluge," paints this beautiful picture of how people lived before and after the Deluge. So I am convinced that Jackson has always had a Pilgrim's heart. This song, "Love Needs a Heart," is a love song; I think it's the ultimate love song. Consider these lyrics:

Maybe the hardest thing I’ve ever done
was to walk away from You
leaving behind the life that we’d begun
I split myself in two

Proud and alone, cold as a stone
rolling down that hill into the night
I could see the surprise and the hurt in Your eyes
from behind each flashing city light.

Love needs a heart and I need to find
if love needs a heart like mine

Love won’t come near me, she don’t even hear me;
She walks past my vacancy sign.
Love needs a heart trusting and blind.
I wish that heart was mine.

Proud and alone, cold as a stone
I’m afraid to believe the things I feel.
I can cry with the best I can laugh with the rest
But I’m never sure when it’s real.

And it may be the hardest thing I’ve ever done
but apart from all that I hope to find,
where’s the heart that’s been looking for mine?
I hope it (He) finds me in time.

Love needs a heart and I need to find
if love needs a heart like mine.
This could be the song I sing to the Lord, because I believe He has silently waited in the wings for a very long time, to be recognized by me. "I hope I found Him in time."
Jackson got some bad press in the late 80's/early 90's when he reportedly had physically abused Darryl Hannah, the actress. I wish it hadn't happened and I was disappointed, because I had always perceived him as a child of light. Alas, he is human after all, and dropped a few rungs on my Ladder of Idolatry. If you peruse his website at www.jacksonbrowne.com you can scroll down all of his album releases in chronological order and, like a true artist, you can tell from his lyrics/song titles what his journey has been. Like all of us, he is evolving, trying to find his way home.