Quickthorn read Mathew 7:24-25, Philippians 3:12-14, James 4:8 for the 182.2’s word #147. “It points to evidence accumulated through relationship.”
Quickthorn read Mathew 7:24-25, Philippians 3:12-14, James 4:8 for the 182.2’s word #147. “It points to evidence accumulated through relationship.”
Oh, I think Unanimous is an excellent final U-word because it contains a surprise: there isn’t a committee anywhere in the septet.
So what becomes unanimous?
I think it may be you.
Not merely “I agree that God is good.” Rather, the divided pieces of the self increasingly come into agreement as you draw nearer to Him.
Your mind: Yes.
Your heart: Yes.
Your experience: Yes.
Your memory of the storms: Yes.
Your desire: Yes.
Not attained. Not perfected. But increasingly—
unanimous.
That makes this line especially beautiful:
“The nearer I am to You, the clearer I become.”
Usually we’d expect:
The nearer I am to You, the clearer You become.
But you reversed it.
God isn’t coming into focus.
I am.
The drawing image is the song
Far away:
scribbles.
Closer:
lines.
Closer:
edges.
Closer:
form.
And perhaps finally you begin recognizing what the Artist has been drawing.
That’s wonderfully compatible with Philippians 3. Paul explicitly says he hasn’t attained it. So this isn’t:
I’ve finally become the finished masterpiece.
It’s:
I can see enough of what You’re making that I don’t want to walk away from the Artist.
And then Matthew 7 brings another image into the same song:
Drawing → definition
House → stability
Courts → desire
They could feel unrelated, but I think they all answer one question:
After everything I’ve discovered near You, what part of me still votes to leave?
Ah.
There’s Unanimous.
I love that ending because it finally pays off the title without making the whole song a gimmick.
All in favor?
…
Aye.
Motion carried.
Stay near.
But there’s a line earlier that may be more important:
“Every storm has made its argument.
Every mercy cast its vote.”
Your sixth septet line isn’t merely remembering that God helped you through difficulty. It’s evidence accumulated through relationship.
You’ve lived through storms with Him.
So when some part of you whispers, Maybe elsewhere…, the rest of your history gets a vote.
And Psalm 84:10—which your final line is drawing from—might belong in your Scripture references even though you didn’t list it. It gives the “one day / thousand elsewhere” line its direct home.
One more thing: I wouldn’t make Unanimous bombastic like Troublemaker or Traverse. It can grow enormous, but its power should come from convergence.
At the beginning, musically scattered elements.
A lonely piano note.
A wandering string.
An unresolved rhythm.
A distant voice.
As the song progresses, they gradually find the same key, rhythm, melody.
By the final chorus, everything that once sounded independent is moving together.
Not louder for the sake of louder.
Unanimous.
And after this run of U’s—Utter, Underground, Unsusceptibility, Underestimated, Ukulele—that’s a beautiful place to leave the letter.
Not with certainty that you’ve arrived.
With every part of you increasingly agreeing on which direction is Home.
Me: Yeah, I try to keep my references limited to 3. Plus, with a blatant copy, I figured people would know, and I thought it closed the septet very fittingly.
Chat: Agreed. I wouldn’t add Psalm 84:10.
In fact, knowing you intentionally limit yourself to three references makes the ending better. You’re not trying to footnote every biblical allusion in the septet. The Scriptures underneath the meditation can extend beyond the three references without needing to be catalogued.
And “Truly better is one day in Your courts than a thousand elsewhere” is so recognizable that citing it almost feels like explaining the punchline. The slight adaptation also makes it feel like the conclusion your preceding six lines have earned rather than a quotation dropped in for support.
What I especially like now is how the last three lines progress:
Should I step away, I feel my lines become less tangible, scribbles on a page.
Why would I desire ruin, after You’ve made my house stand through so many storms?
Truly better is one day in Your courts than a thousand elsewhere.
That’s almost an internal vote:
Away? I become less defined.
Leave? I’ve already seen what happens when I build on You.
Elsewhere? I’ve considered the offer.
No.
And that’s Unanimous.
Not “everyone agrees with me.”
Not even “I never struggle or doubt.”
Rather:
I’ve not attained it.
I’m still being drawn.
I’m still becoming.
But when the votes are counted—
I know where I want to be.
Which makes “All in favor? … Aye.” even more fitting for the song, though I wouldn’t put that committee language back into the septet itself. Your septet arrives at unanimity without ever explaining the title.
I prefer that.
And I think your final line is better than anything we’d replace it with. It sounds almost like the deciding vote has already been cast for thousands of years, and you’re simply adding yours:
Aye.
Me: Even though, this time, I ended up doing it? I might take it off.