Desire Like Dynamite

I often come back to the song “Dynamite” by Sandra McCracken. It’s the title track from the album she released in 2013, entitled Desire Like Dynamite. Maybe it was appropriate for last week; it was Earth Day last Wednesday, and the track is about how our desires form our actions, some of which have an effect on our land.

I had a dream that the mountains cried like a child for their mother

There was poison in the seam and I saw eastern Tennessee flooding under..

The hush, the chill, the iron will of man

Sweeping everything in sight…with dynamite

But in the course of the song, Sandra is making a deeper point: our actions only reflect something deeper: our affections. What we love is the primary driving force in a human’s life. She says it can move us “like dynamite.” 

Make what you will or what you won’t

You may play a part

As the leaf bends and leans toward the light

Oh the heart takes what it wants…like dynamite.

Those who have ears, as the smoke it clears

Will see things as they are

To bend the will, you first must change the heart. 

This truth can manifest for good: we love our neighbor, so we sacrifice time and energy for them. We love our friend, so we make their suffering our own and walk with them through it. We love an enemy and hold our tongue when we could let fly.

This idea can also manifest for evil: we love money, so we swindle and pursue it. We love security, so we run from healthy risk-taking. We love comfort, so we neglect our duty.

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

The interplay of action with affection is one we deal with every day whether we are aware of it or not. What is our motivation in doing (or not doing) something? What drives our actions each day? What causes us to shy away from certain actions? It is our heart. James pulls no punches as he reminds us, “What is the source of wars and fights among you? Don’t they come from your passions that wage war within you?” (James 4:1)

We get a picture of this primary place of affections even in Jesus’ earthly life in Hebrews 12, where the author of the letters tells us that Jesus obeyed, enduring the cross, “for the joy set before him.” He was driven by his desire for eternal joy. Jesus was willing to set aside temporary comfort and happiness in order to pursue long-lasting, satisfying joy. 

This is an idea that affects our parenting. When a child is struggling to obey, what is driving them? What desire do they have? If they are mature enough, can we engage them in that conversation, rather than merely addressing the wrong action?

And then, can we do the same with ourselves?

If we are able to harness our own desires, it is more powerful than dynamite.

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Kelly Keller

Kelly Keller is the managing editor of Story Warren. She has her BS in Elementary Education from Messiah University and has taught various ages, but her favorite was worldview and literature with high school students. The “gap” in her resume is actually a window of eighteen years of homeschooling, which she recommends as an effective, though demanding, way of expanding one’s home library.

When she’s not behind her laptop, Kelly enjoys live music, baseball, reading great books, and traveling with her husband, David. Kelly hails from beautiful snowy New England, but after nearly two decades in North Carolina, she feels right at home.

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