real to me

Nichole Nordeman has a new radio single from her album Brave called Real to Me... I don't own the record and I didn't gravitate to the song at first... probably a little too bubble gum pop... but then I read her inspiration for the song and I gained a greater appreciation for the meaning behind the song...

"This song was, in the truest sense, an evolution.... I lost track of the number of re-writes, title changes, melody transformations and re-structuring that took place during the writing of it. It started with a series of late night phone calls with my good friend, Jill...which were a rare treat.

Jill started telling me about this tension she'd recognized in her life. There seemed to be this giant disconnect, she'd noticed, between how meaningful and inspirational Christian books/music/Bible study/church services can bebut how irrelevant all that seems in real life. It's like when you walk out of your church on Sunday morning (regardless of how you felt inside) and back into the sameness of your everyday, the genie disappears back into the bottle somehow, or at least that's how it feels. This totally made sense to me. I've even felt that way walking off stage after a concertknowing that God had done something really special in the room, and somehow just wondering if the evening would really change anything or anyone for real. Even worse, some nights I care more about what after-show food will be on the bus than I do about any lasting spiritual impact on anybody. Sorry, the ugly truth.

We talked for hours over the course of several days about how some days we just feel like hollering up to God Listen. I really appreciate all the stuff that's being written, and spoken, and sung about youit's great, really. but just for one minute, could you be really REAL to me? Jill ended up reading these beautiful passages and entire chapters out of Brennan Manning's Lion and the Lamb book to me, until I could locate my own dusty copy, and then we read together. All of these wonderful late night talks, and longings, found their way into this hopeful song. It means a lot to both of us."

Lyrics to Real to Me...
(Nichole Nordeman, Jill Tomalty, Jay Joyce)

Every time I try to find you
Every road comes back around
Just another hoop to jump through
Another mile of covered ground

I am weary of the answers
More theory and cliché
They raise the letter of the law like a banner
Til youre small and far away

All the questions in my head
Are from my heart instead

Be real to me now
Thats all Im asking
Be real to me now

Every scribe and every scholar
No winners in this debate
Everybody seems to stand up taller
When youre easy to explain

I dont need to know what I dont know
Just got to let it go

Be real to me now
Thats all Im asking
Be real somehow
More than anything
More than anything

So lay down the sword
And put away the doctrine
Love a little more, love a little more
Cause everybodys broken