What do you do
When you've done all you can
And it seems like it's never enough?
And what do you say
When your friends turn away
And you're all alone?
Tell me, what do you give
When you've given your all
And it seems like
You can't make it through?
There will be so many times when you think that you have done all you can. You have to question sometimes though, how much do you have to do in order for you to know that you've done all you can? Is it to your own personal satisfaction? Or is it according to how friends, family or acquaintances believe that you have? There is a measuring stick for every situation and I guess until there is some sort of recognition or indication that you have reached a goal, that someone has acknowledged that you have done all you can - then you won't really know. You might have gone through some situations in the past where you weren't really sure if you had achieved what was expected of you. There was no way of knowing if you had done what you were supposed to do or done all that you could because nobody communicated anything to you.
Well you just stand
When there's nothing left to do
You just stand
Watch the Lord see you through
Yes after you've done all you can
You just stand
When there is nothing left to do, then you know that just being able to stand and be ready to take on what comes your way - is really all you can do. I think we can often give up too easily and distract ourselves from goals that we have set up for ourselves because we have either taken on too much, or we become embroiled in other people's dramas and redirect our time to solve their situations before your own. How do you know what the best thing to do is? Sometimes the best way to help someone is to leave them alone to their own devices. to let them make their own decisions about how things will pan out in their life, because well, it's their life. Other times you will have to tell them to let you know what they need from you because you're not a mind reader and you don't know how best to do all you can, if they aren't able to find the words to tell you.
Tell me
How do you handle the guilt of your past?
Tell me, how do you deal with the shame?
And how can you smile
When your heart has been broken
And filled with pain?
Tell me what do you give
When you've given your all
Seems like you can't make it through?
Whatever guilt or shame that you have from the past, the best way to deal with it is to either admit to it and make atonement for it. Whether people you have wronged are interested in hearing your reasons for why you hurt them, it is totally to their discretion. Heartbreak will always be a difficult thing to be able to smile through. Nobody really understands how you can be able to pick yourself and go through the motions of daily life, tending to your responsibilities and obligations when Lauryn Hill has spoken about "how you're going to win if you ain't right within"? There are moments in your life where you will need to take the necessary pitstops to move to the side and take stock of what's actually going on. We get too busy living in the rat race and trying to keep up with the Jones' when we don't really think deeply, carefully, even remotely considerately in a considerable way about what life we actually want for ourselves.
Child you just stand,
When there's nothing left to do
You just stand
Watch the Lord see you through
Yes, after you've done all you can
You just stand
I only heard this song last week when a friend Jason Te Mete said he was going to teach his class. Ever since then, it has been on constant repeat. When I listen to the lyrics, there are just so many incidents with so many friends and their current journeys. It makes me think about how we are all connected, whether we realise it or not, with the universal themes of love and loss, self doubt and triumph. What struggles are you currently going through? Do you have people who can help you when you need them? Sometimes people will disappoint or not be able to give you the comfort and solace that you need. God never fails in that respect. He might not give us the answers automatically that we want to hear, but He definitely knows what we need to hear. Being able to stand and await His presence in your life, I can't describe that feeling. I cannot tell you how many times I have completely lost myself within myself, or completely wanted to give up and just remove myself from being around negative influences (only when I've had the courage to do so), that it was because I was able to really see what God could do for me, and what He continues to do. Even when He constantly reminds me.
Stand and be sure
Be not entangled in that bondage again
You just stand and endure
God has a purpose
Yes God has a plan
You need to think about where that bondage is coming from. I think from listening to all of my friends and hearing their personal struggles with whatever they are going through - the bondage forms from words that people speak to them, the actions that people do to make them feel less than they are. I think as I get older each year, I become more critically self reflect and wrestle with how I want to be in the world, and how I want people to be able to get the best of me in the world. But of course, you cannot be naive. There are people out there who try to do you harm and hope that you never realise your dreams and your goals. These people are only dangerous if you allow them to be, so you need to develop practical ways to let these people know - that they have no power over you. What is your purpose? What is your plan? We are all where we need to be, right now, in this very minute, even if you don't like where you are, there are things that you need to learn and appreciate, so that when your greatness comes to fruition - you never forget what you have overcome.
Tell me what do you do
When you've done all you can
And it seems like you can't make it through
Child you just stand
You just stand
Stand, stand
Don't you dare give up (You just)
Through the storm (stand), stand through the rain (stand)
Through the hurt (stand), jet through the pain (stand)
Don't you bow (stand), and don't bend (stand)
Don't give up (stand), no, don't give in (You just)
Hold on (stand), just be strong (stand)
God will step in (stand), and it won't be long (you just)
So you need to remember the reasons for why you stand.
Stand for yourself - for me that's number one, particularly in relation to how you need to look after yourself and how you can be the best version of yoruself to take care of those goals. The thing is we spend a lot of time worrying about others and I'm not saying that you shouldn't but when you go through something, you're usually going through it on your own. So the storm, the rain, the hurt and the pain, these are all things that you experience on your own, if not physically then in your mind, o even spiritually. But what happens if you have always been the strong one? When you are the one that everyone runs to for support - who helps to piece you back together?
After you done all you can (After you done all you can)
After you done all you can (After you done all you can)
After you gone through the hurt (After you done all you can)
After you gone through the pain (After you done all you can)
After you gone through the storm (After you done all you can)
After you gone through the rain (After you done all you can)
Do what you can. Do you know what you are capable of doing? You might surprise yourself with what you can do, especially when people naturally underestimate you because they haven't met someone like you before. You are measured against everyone else that has either acheived or not achieved what you have set out to do. You can choose to take what the naysayers have said and live up to their expectations for you to fail or prove them wrong but really showing them what you're capable of doing. I don't know about you, but sometimes, constantly having to prove yourself can get tiresome. People from ethnic minorities work so much harder to prove that they have mastered everything in a Western system - because sadly that whole structure is the measurement of success.
Prayed and cried, prayed and cried (After you done all you can)
Prayed and cried (After you done all you can)
Prayed and cry
After you done all you can you can just stand
There may never be a time where you can hold back on the prayers or tears, nor should you have to. We are constantly under so much pressure to be ok, to be stronger than we actually are. We can learn to stand when we don't feel like standing, or we can stand when we realise that we never found the right time to do so until now. Wherever you are in your life, if you feel that you have to make a stand, then do it. There may be some huge obstacles that you need to overcome or some other hurdles that you need to jurmp over while you are trying to make this stand, but it is all part of the process. We just need to dig deep and keep pushing outselves to the depths of our limits, because it is only after you have done all that you can will you be able to stand. . . .
When you've done all you can
And it seems like it's never enough?
And what do you say
When your friends turn away
And you're all alone?
Tell me, what do you give
When you've given your all
And it seems like
You can't make it through?
There will be so many times when you think that you have done all you can. You have to question sometimes though, how much do you have to do in order for you to know that you've done all you can? Is it to your own personal satisfaction? Or is it according to how friends, family or acquaintances believe that you have? There is a measuring stick for every situation and I guess until there is some sort of recognition or indication that you have reached a goal, that someone has acknowledged that you have done all you can - then you won't really know. You might have gone through some situations in the past where you weren't really sure if you had achieved what was expected of you. There was no way of knowing if you had done what you were supposed to do or done all that you could because nobody communicated anything to you.
Well you just stand
When there's nothing left to do
You just stand
Watch the Lord see you through
Yes after you've done all you can
You just stand
When there is nothing left to do, then you know that just being able to stand and be ready to take on what comes your way - is really all you can do. I think we can often give up too easily and distract ourselves from goals that we have set up for ourselves because we have either taken on too much, or we become embroiled in other people's dramas and redirect our time to solve their situations before your own. How do you know what the best thing to do is? Sometimes the best way to help someone is to leave them alone to their own devices. to let them make their own decisions about how things will pan out in their life, because well, it's their life. Other times you will have to tell them to let you know what they need from you because you're not a mind reader and you don't know how best to do all you can, if they aren't able to find the words to tell you.
Tell me
How do you handle the guilt of your past?
Tell me, how do you deal with the shame?
And how can you smile
When your heart has been broken
And filled with pain?
Tell me what do you give
When you've given your all
Seems like you can't make it through?
Whatever guilt or shame that you have from the past, the best way to deal with it is to either admit to it and make atonement for it. Whether people you have wronged are interested in hearing your reasons for why you hurt them, it is totally to their discretion. Heartbreak will always be a difficult thing to be able to smile through. Nobody really understands how you can be able to pick yourself and go through the motions of daily life, tending to your responsibilities and obligations when Lauryn Hill has spoken about "how you're going to win if you ain't right within"? There are moments in your life where you will need to take the necessary pitstops to move to the side and take stock of what's actually going on. We get too busy living in the rat race and trying to keep up with the Jones' when we don't really think deeply, carefully, even remotely considerately in a considerable way about what life we actually want for ourselves.
Child you just stand,
When there's nothing left to do
You just stand
Watch the Lord see you through
Yes, after you've done all you can
You just stand
I only heard this song last week when a friend Jason Te Mete said he was going to teach his class. Ever since then, it has been on constant repeat. When I listen to the lyrics, there are just so many incidents with so many friends and their current journeys. It makes me think about how we are all connected, whether we realise it or not, with the universal themes of love and loss, self doubt and triumph. What struggles are you currently going through? Do you have people who can help you when you need them? Sometimes people will disappoint or not be able to give you the comfort and solace that you need. God never fails in that respect. He might not give us the answers automatically that we want to hear, but He definitely knows what we need to hear. Being able to stand and await His presence in your life, I can't describe that feeling. I cannot tell you how many times I have completely lost myself within myself, or completely wanted to give up and just remove myself from being around negative influences (only when I've had the courage to do so), that it was because I was able to really see what God could do for me, and what He continues to do. Even when He constantly reminds me.
Stand and be sure
Be not entangled in that bondage again
You just stand and endure
God has a purpose
Yes God has a plan
You need to think about where that bondage is coming from. I think from listening to all of my friends and hearing their personal struggles with whatever they are going through - the bondage forms from words that people speak to them, the actions that people do to make them feel less than they are. I think as I get older each year, I become more critically self reflect and wrestle with how I want to be in the world, and how I want people to be able to get the best of me in the world. But of course, you cannot be naive. There are people out there who try to do you harm and hope that you never realise your dreams and your goals. These people are only dangerous if you allow them to be, so you need to develop practical ways to let these people know - that they have no power over you. What is your purpose? What is your plan? We are all where we need to be, right now, in this very minute, even if you don't like where you are, there are things that you need to learn and appreciate, so that when your greatness comes to fruition - you never forget what you have overcome.
Tell me what do you do
When you've done all you can
And it seems like you can't make it through
Child you just stand
You just stand
Stand, stand
Don't you dare give up (You just)
Through the storm (stand), stand through the rain (stand)
Through the hurt (stand), jet through the pain (stand)
Don't you bow (stand), and don't bend (stand)
Don't give up (stand), no, don't give in (You just)
Hold on (stand), just be strong (stand)
God will step in (stand), and it won't be long (you just)
So you need to remember the reasons for why you stand.
Stand for yourself - for me that's number one, particularly in relation to how you need to look after yourself and how you can be the best version of yoruself to take care of those goals. The thing is we spend a lot of time worrying about others and I'm not saying that you shouldn't but when you go through something, you're usually going through it on your own. So the storm, the rain, the hurt and the pain, these are all things that you experience on your own, if not physically then in your mind, o even spiritually. But what happens if you have always been the strong one? When you are the one that everyone runs to for support - who helps to piece you back together?
After you done all you can (After you done all you can)
After you done all you can (After you done all you can)
After you gone through the hurt (After you done all you can)
After you gone through the pain (After you done all you can)
After you gone through the storm (After you done all you can)
After you gone through the rain (After you done all you can)
Do what you can. Do you know what you are capable of doing? You might surprise yourself with what you can do, especially when people naturally underestimate you because they haven't met someone like you before. You are measured against everyone else that has either acheived or not achieved what you have set out to do. You can choose to take what the naysayers have said and live up to their expectations for you to fail or prove them wrong but really showing them what you're capable of doing. I don't know about you, but sometimes, constantly having to prove yourself can get tiresome. People from ethnic minorities work so much harder to prove that they have mastered everything in a Western system - because sadly that whole structure is the measurement of success.
Prayed and cried, prayed and cried (After you done all you can)
Prayed and cried (After you done all you can)
Prayed and cry
After you done all you can you can just stand
There may never be a time where you can hold back on the prayers or tears, nor should you have to. We are constantly under so much pressure to be ok, to be stronger than we actually are. We can learn to stand when we don't feel like standing, or we can stand when we realise that we never found the right time to do so until now. Wherever you are in your life, if you feel that you have to make a stand, then do it. There may be some huge obstacles that you need to overcome or some other hurdles that you need to jurmp over while you are trying to make this stand, but it is all part of the process. We just need to dig deep and keep pushing outselves to the depths of our limits, because it is only after you have done all that you can will you be able to stand. . . .