She's enchanted to meet him, but she knew he was trouble.
She's never, ever getting back together with him, but she keeps going back to December.
She's ready to begin again, but knows all too well that these things only happen in our wildest dreams.
She's Taylor Swift.
Whether you hate her or quote her, you can't deny that she hits truth in her songs. You can't deny that she tells of story that we all relate to, a story about finding love in places we didn't expect, a story about the bumps in the road we didn't anticipate and a story about moving on from something we thought could last forever.
Taylor Swift understands that we all look for this story in our lives. We all search for that love story, that state of grace. We desire the kind of story where when we come home, before we say amen, we ask God if he could play it again.
But, as Taylor Swift's newest album painfully illustrates, this story doesn't always turn out beautifully. Sometimes it looks more like screaming, crying and the perfect storm. Sometimes it tastes more like bad blood. And our wildest dreams settle for something that's just pretend.
Taylor Swift was created for more than this imperfect love she seeks.
She was created to live a perfect love story. But now she is learning "that love, to some extent, is just a game of cat and mouse... Nothing good comes without loss and hardship and constant struggle. There is no 'riding off into the sunset,' like I used to imagine. We are never out of the woods" ("Forward"). She is learning that this world only offers an imperfect version of love.
It's miserable and magical.
But there is hope for Taylor Swift, just as there is hope for us all. For there is a perfect, forever kind of love that will never let us go, like ever. Our savior on a white horse comes. He is here.
"This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." (1 John 4:10)
Here. Perfect love is here. We don't have to keep searching for our identities in a boy who wants stolen kisses and pretty lies. We don't have to keep playing this game of love, hanging our heads as we lose the war.
Our lover has won the war.
It is finished.
In this perfect love, we aren't claiming the love, telling it to stay, stay, stay and making it belong with us. It isn't up to us. We are the ones pursued. We are the ones fought for. We are the ones wooed into a love we will never deserve. This isn't a love that will tear, hurt or break our hearts. It makes us safe. It makes us sound.
And this love makes us fearless.
"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." (1 John 4:18)
Taylor Swift is scared. She is scared because she realizes that this love she pursues isn't what she wants. It is an imperfect form of a perfect desire to be loved. Tom Hiddleston can't fully meet this desire. Neither can any long hair, slicked back, white T-shirt kind of dude.
Only Christ can fully meet the desires of Taylor Swift's heart.
Only Christ gives the world a perfect love.
And we have to just say, yes.
