Can you picture it in your mind?
Art Garfunkel, high forehead, wild and wiry hair stretching in all directions, sitting on the piano bench, maybe he’s wearing jeans, donning a wide blue and white striped crew neck shirt, his hands ever so gently placed on the well-worn keys. He leans forward ever so slightly and begins to play the intro to the song you have heard a million times. You pause from whatever you are doing and your mind halts, shifts gears and takes you back however many years it is to the place where you first heard this song. Your heartbeat slows, your blood pressure lowers, and in a bizarre and peculiar way time stands still for just a nanosecond right as the intro comes to a close and you hear Art Garfunkel breathe out the words ever so softly and yet powerfully which you know by heart –
“When you’re weary, feeling small”…
You know this song by heart. Imperceptibly your mind gauges if there is anyone nearby, hoping and yearning for the opportunity to let these words become your own in song, out loud, allowing your heart to just “let it out, loud and proud!”
“When tears are in your eyes, I’ll dry them all
I’m on your side, oh, when times get rough
And friends just can’t be found”
And now comes the tagline… the line you have been patiently waiting for, the line you have used in context and out of context for the last forty-eight years, five months and twenty-eight days…
“Like a bridge over troubled water”
Not just any bridge. Not just some bridge. Not an “other” bridge. No. Heavens no!
YOU are the bridge. You were the bridge. And… You will always be the bridge! Not a passive bridge, but rather an active, living, breathing bridge that spans the troubled waters, not confined to geographical boundaries or borders… No! Wherever you are, you are the BRIDGE that will lay down…over the troubled water.
I will lay me down
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down…
It’s just You, Art, the piano and a cymbal as the rest of the world dissolves and disappears as you become the bridge over your friend’s, your family’s, and your neighbor’s troubled water.
This goes on for two verses… Just Art, the piano, the cymbal and You.
And then verse three arrives, like you knew it would. The crescendo is building. The song is about to explode. You can no longer contain yourself. Neither can the band! The drums kick in. The bass boosts. Even Paul Simon sidles up to the piano ready to let his harmony do just that… harmonize with Art’s melody… Here it comes and you know the beginning of the final verse…
“Sail on silver girl
Sail on by”
And now it is a runaway train of melody, harmony, music, chill bumps, drums, bass and you… Your memories, your feelings, your laughter, your tears, your hopes, your dreams, your failures, your successes, your “what if’s”, your “I should haves”, your regrets, your accomplishments… all wrapped up in a bundle as verse three hits the mountain top.
“Your time has come to shine
All your dreams are on their way
See how they shine
Oh, if you need a friend
I’m sailing right behind”
Yes and more Yes!
You need a friend?
I am sailing right behind.
Don’t you fear.
I am right here… at the ready…
At the ready to lay down
Any time
Any where
Any how
Any who
I am ready to lay down
“Like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind”
The last note is a high note…
A lasting note…
A promised note…
“I will ease your mind…like a bridge over troubled water.”
Thank you Paul Simon for writing…
Thank you Art Garfunkel for playing the piano and singing.
Thank you…
By the way…
This is Jesus writing and speaking to you today.
“Come to me all of you who labor and I will give you rest.”
“I will lead you beside and over the still waters”
I am the Bridge.
I will always lay me down
To ease your mind
To relieve your guilt
To hold your heart
To accept your imperfections
To love you… always and forever.
Like a bridge
Over troubled waters
I will lay me down…