I'm not much of a cryer in general, but a song that always makes me feel a little choked up is Heaven Is the Face. Steven Curtis Chapman wrote this song after the tragic death of his young daughter, Maria Sue. The lyrics to this song are so beautiful and eloquent and emotionally impacting. Watch a video of Steven Curtis Chapman performing this song here. I'll post the lyrics below.
Heaven Is the Face
Heaven is the face of a little girl with dark brown eyes
That disappear when she smiles.
Heaven is the place where she calls my name,
Says, "Daddy, please come play with me for awhile."
God, I know, it's all of this and so much more,
But God, You know, that this is what I'm aching for.
God, you know, I just can't see beyond the door.
So right now...
Heaven is the sound of her breathing deep,
Lying on my chest, falling fast asleep while I sing.
And heaven is the weight of her in my arms,
Being there to keep her safe from harm while she dreams.
And God, I know, it's all of this and so much more,
But God, You know, that this is what I'm longing for.
God, you know, I just can't see beyond the door.
But in my mind's eye, I can see a place,
Where Your glory fills every empty space.
All the cancer is gone, every mouth is fed,
And there's no one left in the orphan's bed.
Every lonely heart finds their one true love,
And there's no more goodbye and no more not enough,
And there's no more enemy. No more.
Heaven is a sweet, maple syrup kiss,
And a thousand other little things I miss with her gone.
Heaven is the place where she takes my hand,
And leads me to You,
And we both run into Your arms.
Oh God, I know, it's so much more than I can dream.
It's far beyond anything I can conceive.
So God, You know, I'm trusting You until I see
Heaven in the face of my little girl.
Heaven in the face of my little girl.
Heaven is the face of a little girl with dark brown eyes
That disappear when she smiles.
Heaven is the place where she calls my name,
Says, "Daddy, please come play with me for awhile."
God, I know, it's all of this and so much more,
But God, You know, that this is what I'm aching for.
God, you know, I just can't see beyond the door.
So right now...
Heaven is the sound of her breathing deep,
Lying on my chest, falling fast asleep while I sing.
And heaven is the weight of her in my arms,
Being there to keep her safe from harm while she dreams.
And God, I know, it's all of this and so much more,
But God, You know, that this is what I'm longing for.
God, you know, I just can't see beyond the door.
But in my mind's eye, I can see a place,
Where Your glory fills every empty space.
All the cancer is gone, every mouth is fed,
And there's no one left in the orphan's bed.
Every lonely heart finds their one true love,
And there's no more goodbye and no more not enough,
And there's no more enemy. No more.
Heaven is a sweet, maple syrup kiss,
And a thousand other little things I miss with her gone.
Heaven is the place where she takes my hand,
And leads me to You,
And we both run into Your arms.
Oh God, I know, it's so much more than I can dream.
It's far beyond anything I can conceive.
So God, You know, I'm trusting You until I see
Heaven in the face of my little girl.
Heaven in the face of my little girl.
This song makes me cry WAY too much for a single 19 year old... especially after reading Mary Beth Chapman's book: "Choosing to SEE" where she talks a lot about Maria.
ReplyDeleteSteven Curtis Chapman said that the album this song is on is full of "personal psalms." It has some transparency that other albums don't have- it's really like he just took poems straight out of his journal and just put them to music without a lot of fussing to make them sound "good."