“Thursday” by Jess Glynne

I won’t wear makeup on Thursday
I’m sick of covering up
I’m tired of feeling so broken
I’m tired of falling in love
Sometimes I’m shy, and I’m anxious
Sometimes I’m down on my knees
Sometimes I try to embrace all my insecurities
So I won’t wear makeup on Thursday
‘Cause who I am is enough

And there are many things that I could change so slightly
But why would I succumb to something so unlike me?
I was always taught to just be myself
Don’t change for anyone

I wanna laugh, I don’t wanna cry
Don’t want these tears inside my eyes, yeah
Don’t wanna wake up and feel insecure
I wanna sing, I wanna dance
I wanna feel love inside my hands again
I just wanna feel beautiful

Oh-oh-oh, oh I
Oh-oh-oh, oh I
Oh-oh-oh, I just wanna feel beautiful

I’ll wear my sweatpants on Thursday
And I’ll drink sloe gin from a can
I’ll build my own independence
I don’t always need a man

You know sometimes I feel lonely
Could do with the company
Oh, I get high when I’m down
But you know that’s alright with me
So I will do nothing on Thursday
Sit alone and be

And there are many things that I could change so slightly
But why would I succumb to something so unlike me?
I was always taught to just be myself
Don’t change for anyone

I wanna laugh, I don’t wanna cry
Don’t want these tears inside my eyes, yeah
Don’t wanna wake up and feel insecure
I wanna sing, I wanna dance
I wanna feel love inside my hands again
I just wanna feel beautiful

Oh-oh-oh, oh I
Oh-oh-oh, oh I
Oh-oh-oh, I just wanna feel beautiful
Oh-oh-oh, oh I
Oh-oh-oh, oh I
Oh-oh-oh, I just wanna feel beautiful

I won’t wear makeup on Thursday
‘Cause who I am is enough

And I, I wanna laugh, I don’t wanna cry
Don’t want these tears inside my eyes, yeah
Don’t wanna wake up and feel insecure
I wanna sing, I wanna dance
I wanna feel love inside my hands again
I just wanna feel beautiful

Oh-oh-oh, oh I
Oh-oh-oh, oh I
Oh-oh-oh, I just wanna feel beautiful
Oh-oh-oh, oh I
Oh-oh-oh, oh I
Oh-oh-oh, I just wanna feel beautiful

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Steve Mac / Ed Sheeran / Jessica Glynne

Dear God, I came across this song about a week ago on one of my Ed Sheeran playlists. He doesn’t sing it, but he is one of the writers and his fingerprints are definitely on it. I’ve thought about the song since then. I decided I wanted to journal and pray to you about what is hitting me about this song a few hours ago, so since then I’ve listened to it about 10 times.

So what is it that strikes me about this song? I think it’s the ache. The fatigue. The giving up and surrendering in it. It reminds me of coming to the end of myself and just falling into your arms. I don’t think that’s what Jess Glynne is implying when she sings it, but that’s what it reminds me of. It reminds me of the freedom of turning loose of what others think and only finding my feeling of “beautiful” in your eyes.

As I read back over the lyrics of this song, I wonder why Thursday. If I were to have picked the most likely out of the seven days of the week, I would have thought it would be a Saturday or Sunday. I also wonder what her (and when I say “her” I mean not just Jess Glynne, but the anonymous woman who relates to this song) other days are like. Performing. Acting. Putting on a show. Even for someone who works a regular job who identifies with this song. Maybe a school teacher or even someone who works with me. Maybe the person next to me in church. Maybe someone who has built a life of isolation. Maybe someone who is in need of real community.

Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit, like I said, there is a real sense of ache in this song. I pray this morning for anyone for whom it might apply. I have a couple of people on my heart right now. Set them free. Give them a path to your peace. Help them to feel their beauty from your eyes. When I was first married, I really looked to my wife for my sense of affirmation. And while I certainly lean on her to tell me when I’m in error, I don’t feel that endless need for her adoration. I can just let her be. And the irony is that letting her go like that only makes me love her more, and I think it frees her up to love me as well. So I pray that the spirit of this song would be broken in the lives of those for whom it relates through Jesus’s mercy and blessing, I pray that they, and I, would feel our beauty in your eyes.

I offer this to you through the mercy of Jesus and in his name,

Amen