In my line of work I am filled with examples the Great Paradox. What is the Great Paradox, you ask? While I’m sure others will define it in their own way, to me the Great Paradox can be summed up in the scripture Matthew chapter 10 verse 39:
“He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.”
Those things which on the surface seem to be the path to happiness and personal enlightenment will lead us down a path of discontent. On the other hand, selflessness and service, while harder, will usually hand us more happiness than any temporary high that the pursuance of temporal pleasures will (notice that temporal and temporary have the same root).
There are endless similar examples of the Great Paradox. How true freedom can only come through self-discipline and responsibility; how most of the time spending more time with your children, not less, will help you find independence and self-purpose; how making sure you accomplish the most important things first is as sure fire way to guarantee you have enough time to do the fun stuff too; and how focusing entirely on how you can please and meet the needs and desires of your spouse is the best way to ensure your that your own needs are desires are met.
Justin Cash just released a new CD. His title track, Beautiful World is a musical testament to the Great Paradox. Beauty can be found where you least expect it. Often those things that we consciously choose to focus on contribute to our own apathy. Life is bitter-sweet. “Sunshine and Rain, Pleasure and Pain”, all of these things will give us experience. When everyone else says “there is no beauty that we should desire [it]”, we can find beauty if only we look at it with a pure and Christlike heart.
At least that’s what I got out of it 🙂
Beautiful World isn’t the only gem in Justin Cash’s new album, and if I may switch gears a little bit I would love to tell you about the rest of them.
This is not your mom’s LDS musician. I’m not at all trying to knock the spiritual music that I grew up with, I belted it out while I cleaned the kitchen and still love to hear the old school type Mormon music. It will always hold a special place in my heart.
Beautiful World is so different from that and I love it! I love it not just as spiritual or LDS music, but as just music. I feel just as content listening to him while having “dancing/cleaning time” with the kiddos as I do when we are on the way to church. When I was listening to his album I was reminded of everyone from Jason Mratz to The Beach Boys to Sting! While mostly rhythm and blues, I definitely heard a little Nashville flair thrown into mix. All of which I love, by the way. No techno however. For which, Justin, my family and I thank you 😉
His album is filled with work written by his own hand, surrounded and influenced by his own family, with a few remixes of classic favorites like “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” and “Rain Rain” (who would have thought Rain Rain would feel at home somewhere other than a children’s album?).
The last song on his album, No Sorrow in Jesus, is a fabulous bookend to Beautiful World. Beautiful World points out the great paradox’s in our lives, No Sorrow in Jesus shows us the path to understanding our trials and finding joy and healing in them.
You can get the CD here or download the mp3’s here.
You can listen to the album trailer below:
And just to give you a little taste of what is in store, one of my favorite songs of the album is “God Only Made One Of You”. If I had my way, this song would go down as one of the most tender and heartfelt love songs in history.
Stay tuned because this is not the last you have heard of Justin Cash! In the next few days, Justin and I have a little surprise for you 🙂
