Image of the Invisible – Thrice

 

¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. ¹⁶ For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.¹⁷ And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ¹⁸ And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. ¹⁹ For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, ²⁰ and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. ²¹ And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, ²² he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, ²³ if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

I mean I’m not saying I will ever be a minister, I’m just not called to do this, but this thought just comes as I was doing my QT today.

I was made in the likeness of God.  That likeness should be a type of mirror… and as I know, I should be a reflection of Christ… and Christ is the image of the invisible God.  What was unknown, is now known through the image of Christ and that I should live my life striving to follow in His steps.  What do I need to bare to follow after Him, when He bore it all already on the cross?  I was broken and fallen, but through His steadfast and never-ending love and sacrifice, I was already loved, known, and reconciled.  Through that love, I need to surrender and follow.

I am the image of the invisible.

사랑을 했다 – iKon

This song has been stuck in my head for the past week… I can see why it’s still on the Melon charts in Korea. The simple piano beat (and then built upon with the 808 kicks) is super catchy and there isn’t too much of a drop (only at the end). All in all it’s a very relaxed instrumental song with simple lyrics of saying that they remember the love scenario that was created, but now that we broke up, the memory is all that remains.

Nothing related to what I’m going through right now in my life… it’s just an earworm that’s been caught in my head for the past week. The pianos of this track is just really easy to remember that I find myself remembering the beat/lyrical syncopation of the song. It also doesn’t help that because the song is so “lax” compared to other iKon songs, that this is a very easy to listen to song, no matter the mood. Lyrically, it is a sad song, but the instrumental has enough drive to make you not think of it as a song (along with the drops/additions in the chorus, it makes it very easy to fall into). Maybe I’m just trying to drown out some of my other thoughts with some simple songs… Who knows~

Emotions – Jay-Lounge

A song that uses a sample from an older movie (I, Robot) that I really enjoyed. This is something that I’ve been listening to while I am doing work since lo-fi (even though I hate it) for some reason helps me concentrate a little better. I love piano, and the basic hip-hop drumbeat isn’t too overwhelming. I guess the samples do bring up interesting questions to ask ourselves… Are we living lives like a robot, sometimes just falling into the normal routine and habits of life?

For me, I guess I’m just trying to fix the monotony by trying to do something per day or even goal-setting for a week. I feel like once we lose the joy or find that hopelessness, everything becomes so monotonous and feels robotic. Without the ability to feel emotions life would be monochromatic and easy… definitely sometimes we would like for this to be the case, but that gives us the lack of giving us a differentiation of what is good or special. I guess music is an easy way to express emotions.

비도 오고 그래서 (You, Clouds, Rain) – HEIZE

A song for a rainy day. Rain, although depressing, and signifies something sad or gloomy, usually has that peaceful sound at the same time… I know this song was super successful in Korea (I thought it would be popular when it first came out since it’s… very Korean…), but regardless of it’s popularity, I still think this song is awesome.

The sound of the piano mixed in with rainfall does a great job leading into the soft drum beat. The bass also carries weight when the song gets to the “heavier” parts with the drums turning from a soft jazz beat to a normal hip-hop bass/clap. Heize is also definitely better vocally than as a rapper… Lyrically… it’s just a typical song about heartbreak and reminiscing about a breakup.

Because of the rain, I thought of you.

Our Father – Hillsong

After two back-to-back church retreats, it’s good to finally wind down and reflect on my own relationship with Christ. I really liked Our Father because it brings it back to the roots, where Jesus teaches us how to pray… so for so many times in my life when I can’t pray or don’t even know where to get started, I feel like I should start it off with this. The gave us the words and modeled the way our heart should be reflected.

This song was introduced when I was able to serve and be a part of the praise team for the Resurgence Youth Group retreat. It was weird not being part of a small group or being a teacher, but I really played my heart out and gave my all for worship. Definitely something I don’t do as often as I should. I know we’re in a Presbyterian church, but I wish sometimes our Sunday worship can be stronger. What else can we do but to sing joys to our Lord.

첫눈처럼 너에게 가겠다 – Ailee

Definitely a song that matches the mood of the weather since it’s the first snow of 2018. When you were a kid, snow used to mean a chance for school closure and building snowmen, having snowball fights, and running outside. Now… it’s just an annoying commute (or working from home, which is what I am doing), and shoveling snow. Wonder when that mentality change came in for me. I definitely have those memories of running around outside and playing with my family, but now it’s different. It’s sad, but I guess as we grow up we lose our childish innocence and mentality.

This song comes from the drama Guardian and will most likely re-enter the chart every winter time. This ballad is a killer with Ailee’s emotional and power vocals (which shines in the ending parts of the song). Lyrically, it’s nothing too great of note, just the very typical, “I will never forget you” love ballad. It definitely is a song that can permeate throughout the seasons, but Ailee’s voice and emotional lyrics can fit the winter blues to a t.

I Miss You – Ayur

This song is a remix of a piano piece by Noriko Kose. The only reason why I know that is because Nujabes also used the same sample to make Reflection Eternal (another great song).

The piano with the driving bass and simple high hat + kick from the drum drives the song while the piano interlude continually plays in the background.  The piano gives a feeling of longing and ethereal beauty, while the bass and drums are bringing it back down to earth.

I guess for me it makes me think of yes, I miss you, but I can’t have you back. It’s been someone that I always have my thoughts in since there’s been so many times that I want to go back to the past or know that a relationship that I had can’t go back to where it was (whether it may be through mistakes made in the relationship, just naturally growing apart, or even through death). It just makes you want to appreciate every time that you have with a certain person, which makes it more of a reason why you should invest in people that you love and care for.

Piano Nocturn (벌써 일년) – Brown Eyes

This song is a piano instrumental. This was an interlude for the Brown Eyes album and proceeds their very famous song 벌써 일년 (Already One Year). This song is basically a piano rendition of 벌써 일년.

I grew up with the song 벌써 일년 and loved it to death and only recently in college found that there was a piano version of this song. As a former piano player and a sucker for great instrumentals, I immediately fell in love with this version and used during many of my late night study sessions in college.

I think whenever I hear this song I just think about the past and reflect where was I a year ago, and where am I now? Have I changed at all and have I accomplished anything that I can be proud of? I think with this new year, it’ll be a year of change and reflection, hopefully for the better.

좋더라 (I’M YOUNG) – WINNER

This song is from the K-Pop Group WINNER. It actually comes from my least favorite person of the group that actually left the group… But I think he wrote this song extremely well.

The lyrics are about the pains of breaking up and moving on from the relationship and how to accept the reality of the situation. I am not dealing with any type of those things in my life now, but I think the emotions that the singer relays through the lyrics & the instrumental is heartfelt and sincere.

I guess this resonances with me a bit since… I am young too. It definitely relays a point where you can be so invested in someone that they can become your world. After a break-up the world that you can be used to in (in a relationship with someone) is now broken… and the reality of it is we can face this everyday in any type of relationship (not just in agape love).