Eric Clapton is one of the towering figures of contemporary music. His work with the Yardbirds, John Mayall, Cream and Blind Faith alone would have been enough to guarantee his place in rock 'n' roll history, but that was only the beginning. His first solo album came out in in 1970, and remains a staple on FM rock stations ever since. After beating a drug addiction that threatened his life and career, Clapton found his true solo voice on the 1974 collection 461 Ocean Boulevard. This first post-rehab project was a breezy album recorded at Criteria Studios in Miami. It revealed a loser, more confident Clapton dabbling in reggae ("I Shot the Sheriff"), or straight ahead rock and roll ("Mainline Florida") His spiritual side was represented as well in the most prayerful "Let it Grow" which begins with a direct reference to his signature song, the Robert Johnson blues classic "Crossroads"
Standing at the crossroads, trying to read the signs
To tell me which way I should go to find the answer,
And all the time I know,
Plant your love and let it grow.
[Chorus:]
Let it grow, let it grow,
Let it blossom, let it flow.
In the sun, the rain, the snow,
Love is lovely, let it grow.
Looking for a reason to check out of my mind,
Trying hard to get a friend that I can count on,
But there's nothing left to show,
Plant your love and let it grow.
[Chorus]
Time is getting shorter and there's much for you to do.
Only ask and you will get what you are needing,
The rest is up to you.
Plant your love and let it grow.
[Chorus 2x]
Have you ever been in a dilemma or a crisis, desperately seeking a solution when, in fact, a part of you already knows the answers, even though the rest of you cannot and will not see it. You know you should seek reconciliation with someone, but you are reluctant to do so. You have been telling your family and friends that you want to find a new job but after three months of talking you have not made a move. You want to deepen your relationship with someone close to you but somehow the words of commitment escape you. You want to spend more time with your children, but you are so busy that the time just seems to pass you by.
You are like Eric Clapton "Standing at the crossroads , trying to read the signs" when all the time the deepest and truest part of you already knows the answer. Indeed "Love is lovely" and in each of the situations mentioned, and in virtually any other you can imagine, the clue is to plant your love and "Let it Grow"
If this is so, If growth in our ability love ourselves and others will take ourselves from the crossroads and onto the right path, why is it so hard? Why do we have so much angst, so much indecision if we already know the basic answer? Perhaps it is because we are looking for an easier answer, a quicker more painless fix. Society constantly tells us that is it exists and that we deserve it. There is no need to listen to that small inward voice within that is calling us to dig deeper for a solution with all the hard work and sacrifice that it will entail. Go for the surface solution and keep right chugging along. No! Everytime you reach one of those crucial crossroads "Plant your love and let it grow" and you will be given what you need. This is what the Apostle Paul is reaching for in his letter to the church in Corinth.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. 13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
This is what planting your love looks like. This is what real love looks like, this is what it really looks like to love against all the odds. There is no easy answer. The only answer is love for God and for others.
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