The Temporal Illusion

When did bling become everything?

Have we developed an imbalanced approach to things that don't last?
The newest fad in a celebrity mag. Are they useful tools or toys that distract?
The latest consumer must haves, the need that misleads.
Like Bowerbirds and Jackdaws, littering our nests with the pretty and glittery.
They never satisfy because someone's always got a newer one, bigger one, better one.
Our unhealthy obsession with wood hay and stubble, It'll all stay behind, buried in the rubble.
Identity is lost in the last thing while we scrabble to buy the new.
To maintain our fleeting grasp on currency. Lost in the need to individualise, to stand out, we drown in the crowd.
Buying in to this corrupted, consumerist reimaging, we sell ourselves.

Celebrity status is a delusion of fame, no person more important than any other name.
Should never demand special exclusive treatment.
But still they do because we say it's so.
We build the pedestal lofty and high, pulling them down when they fail to fly.
They're human after all, did we really think they couldn't fall?
The sad side effect of the popularity drug, they cloak themselves in security.
Fanatical obsession pushes them into fearful sad isolation.
As the limelight fades, trying to fan the flame that burned bright.
But it's too late, we've moved on.
They once looked new.
Stay the same or change, it's a losing game.

And the church is not immune to this roundabout ride.
It's our broken nature a fault we can't hide.
Copy the world and play the game.
Put all your stock in the one's with fame.
We hurt the one that gave us His name.
It's not about me, are the words that set free.
Jesus told us "what to expect if you follow me"
It won' t be easy, it can get kind of rough.
Don't waste your time on all sorts of stuff.
Set someone else before yourself.
Not to lift them high, but to help them up.

Life's not about the things we collect, the things that don't last.
Their importance is fleeting, it happens so fast.
Eternity measures the things that add up.
Are they lasting and precious or just about us?
What did we count as important and real?
Mere riches on earth?
Well that's not the deal.