By Kathy L. McFarland
I will never forget the first time I heard Leonard Cohen sing ‘Hallelujah!’ I was sitting in a car awaiting the rest of the family to finish the food shopping that I was physically unable to complete. It was late at night, and it had been a long and hard day; I was praying that my pain be hidden from their eyes when they returned, so they would not feel the despair that surely would come.
The radio began the broken chords of Hallelujah! I felt the minor lifts and the major chords swell within me, and recognized that the Holy Spirit was touching and healing me with the most secular of songs reaching to the core of my being. I sang Hallelujah, and another and another, until I felt the familiar strength surge through me, restoring my soul to a place of peace with a overwhelming joy of recognizing an answer from my Lord.
I may have made mistakes in this life. My body may not be the perfect creation He made me to be. “And even if it all went wrong, I’ll stand before the Lord of song with nothing on my tongue but, ‘Hallelujah!’
It was at that moment that I recognized that a true follower of Christ is ALWAYS broken before they come to Him, and once found in His embrace, is unable to say anything worthy of that hug, but Hallelujah!
Thank you, Leonard Cohen, for writing the words that reminds us to lift up our Hallelujah’s even when they seem broken.
