Hole Hearted

Last Wednesday, as I was driving home from work, I was flipping through the radio dial, as per my usual, when I heard a song that stopped me in my tracks. I was fortuitous enough to catch basically the entire song. It was a song I loved from a band I adored from many years past. (My sophomore year in high school, to be exact.) It was from an album that I listened to countless times over. And, to this day, I still regard that album as one of top favorites of all time.

That song was “Hole Hearted” by Extreme.

After the song finished playing, the DJ came on the air and informed us that that song, which reached #4 on the billboard charts, came off of the certified double platinum album Extreme II: Pornograffitti (A Funked Up Fairy Tale), which was released on this day (August 7) in 1990; 29 years ago.

I literally gasped out loud.

How on earth?

Twenty-nine years ago?!?!

That can’t be right!

I got home and hopped on the interwebs…and yes, that information the DJ shared with us was indeed correct.

This not only makes me feel old, but ancient. Le sigh…

I am hoping that since it made it to #4 on the charts, that you have heard of it. If not, you have probably heard of “More Than Words” which is also from that same album. It reached #1 on the charts.

Anyway, if you haven’t heard this song, I suggest you go check it out.

As I have shared with y’all in the past, I listen to music now with “new” ears and a heart for God, and I play a little game when I do so--Musical Hide and Seek. I try and find God in all the music I listen to, whether the songs writers meant for Him to be in there or not. So, in listening to “Hole Hearted”—a song I have heard a gazillion times—I heard it in a completely new light.

Here are the lyrics:
Life's ambition occupy my time
Priorities confuse the mind
Happiness one step behind
This inner peace I've yet to find

Rivers flow into the sea
Yet even the sea is not so full of me
If I'm not blind why can't I see
That a circle can't fit where a square should be

There's a hole in my heart
That can only be filled by you
And this hole in my heart
Can't be filled with the things I do

Hole hearted (x2)
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This heart of stone is where I hide
These feet of clay kep warm inside
Day by day less satisfied
Not fade away before I die

Rivers flow into the sea
Yet even the sea is not so full of me
If I'm not blind why can't I see
That a circle can't fit where a square should be

There's a hole in my heart
That can only be filled by you
And this hole in my heart
Can't be filled with the things I do

There's a hole in my heart
That can only be filled by you
Should have known from the start
I'd fall short with the things I do

Hole hearted (x6)

As I sang along to the song, the lyrics really hit me. This could easily be a praise and worship song written to God. (I seriously doubt that Nuno Bettencourt and Gary Cherone wrote this song to God or about God. But, I mean honestly, listen to it. Doesn’t it just fit perfectly?) It also goes along flawlessly with the post I wrote about “Filling the Hole.” The only thing that can fill the hole in our lives is God.
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Can’t you just hear this song being played today on your favorite contemporary Christian station? Oh…or how about someone like Phil Wickham or Matthew West redoing it with a Christian stance? I don’t know about you, but I would love that. And, I just can’t get over what a truly powerful song this is and how powerful it could be in terms of Christian ministry. I don’t know about you, but the next time I sing this song,  I will be singing it to God with my hole heart!