I Love You For Your Sake
The other day I was listening to some beautiful music by my good friend, Luke Slott when the song “I Love You For Your Sake” came on. Although I had heard the song many times before—I often like to listen to the disc when reading (and blogging)—it all made sense like never before. This song was telling me something—that God does not continue this outpouring of unconditional love upon us for His benefit but for ours. His love for us is so deep that just by loving us we will be affected. It is for our sakes that he does this, not for his.
Luke told me his inspiration for the song came from the Tablet of NÁṢIRI’D-DÍN SHÁH in which Baha’u’llah was speaking to the Shah of Iran and told him,
They that surround thee love thee for their own sakes, whereas this Youth loveth thee for thine own sake, and hath had no desire except to draw thee nigh unto the seat of grace, and to turn thee toward the right-hand of justice. Thy Lord beareth witness unto that which I declare.
His statement shows that Baha’u’llah was the deliverer of God’s message for all of us, and that he was imbued with the knowledge and the power and the wisdom to echo God’s love.
“I Love You For Your Sake” is the shortest track on the disc at only about a minute and half, but its message is profound. Most of the song is made up of a simple rhythm with a melody that becomes increasingly layered. Just after the one minute mark, there is a stillness—almost a pause—and the basic rhythm becomes more complex, with much more of an interplay between the two parts. This continues for about 20 seconds with the last 10-15 seconds of the track sustaining the final chords.
Listening to the song, I could hear God’s love at work through the notes. The steady rhythm for the first two-thirds of the composition could represent a person who is ignoring God’s work in his life. God’s response is to continually create something more fanciful in order to get his attention. Eventually, it has the desired effect and we hear this in the pause and near-reversal of roles as the person who has discovered the wonders of God now echoes them to others.
The song, "I Love You For Your Sake” comes from the disc, Don’t Go Back To Sleep – Music for Solo Piano Vol. 1 and includes 10 original piano solos inspired by the writings of Baha’u’llah. This debut album is due very soon (I was able to get my hands on a demo). Recently, Slott did a give away on his website, and before it ended he sent out 1,000 CDs all over the world so someone near you may already have recordings of his work (wink, wink).
You can listen to some of Luke Slott’s music at his MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/lukeslott
And also visit the Official Luke Slott Website: http://www.lukeslott.com/ – this is the only place where you will you will be able to buy Don’t Go Back to Sleep when it is released!