Walk On

Love is "not the easy thing," the song admits at the outset, and the only baggage worth bringing is "all that you can't leave behind." From there an encouraging voice speaks to someone facing long darkness and a "glass heart" close to cracking, and the answer each time is "Walk on."

Travel imagery runs through the middle: a "suitcase for a place none of us has been," a destination that "has to be believed to be seen," and a "singing bird in an open cage." The "Home" lines admit uncertainty about where it is while insisting "I know I'm going." A long list of things to leave behind, from what we fashion and build to what we measure and scheme, ends in a double "Hallelujah," the point where praise takes over from striving.

Darlene Zschech's version carries the wording of U2's song, so its faith content is implicit and reads through the longing for home. Hebrews 11:1 and 11:16 describe faith as conviction of unseen things and a search for a better country, and Philippians 3:20 places citizenship in heaven.