One of These Days

I remember singing, with great wistfulness, as a teenager a song by Paul McCartney called One of These Days.

The lyric goes:

One Of These Days
When My Feet Are On The Ground
I’m Gonna Look Around And See

See What’s Right, See What’s There
And Breathe Fresh Air, Ever After

One Of These Days
When A Job Just Takes Too Long
I’m Gonna Sing My Song And See

See What’s Right, See What’s There
And Breathe Fresh Air, Ever After

It’s There, It’s Round
It’s To Be Found
By You, By Me
It’s All We Ever Wanted To Be

One Of These Days
When We Both Are At Our Ease
When You’ve Got Time To Please, Yourself

See What’s Right And See What’s There
And Breathe Fresh Air, Ever After

It’s There, It’s Round
It’s To Be Found
By You, By Me
It’s All We Ever Wanted To See

One Of These Days
When My Feet Are On The Ground
I’m Gonna Look Around And See
See What’s Right And See What’s There
And Breathe Fresh Air, Ever After, Ever After
Breathe Fresh Air, Ever After

You can hear the song here:
One Of These Days

I really got that song.  I understood that it was something to aspire to- something mostly out of reach.  I loved the lazy and patient melody.  I loved the surety of of his conviction that, indeed, such a utopian day could arrive for each of us if we sought after it.  If we believed.  If only the world stopped for just a minute, or if all of our ducks miraculously lined up in a row.

If we believed that we, ourselves, would be the one in one hundred thousand to find that fountain of youth where time stands still and where we could breathe fresh air ever after.

I picture a sunny day whenever I hear that song.  A lazy day fishing – birds twittering stilted melodies.  The children chasing butterflies in the grass.  Wild rose scents inebriating with every inhalation.  Blue skies soothing- calming,  like the lullabies in the water they store.

I’m not sure I really believed, though I may have, and maybe that seed of faith found its own way and brought me here today.  Or maybe it was hope.  A hope that dared to hope even when a jaded world laughed it off.  Or even those times when my own jaded heart did anything but believe.  Or maybe it was something as simple as serendipity- the good life that happens when we are busy making other plans.

But there is also another presentation: The grace of God in all of its unmerited favor.  I’m just going to settle on that one and say a hearty, “Thank you Father.”  (Though I believe the other explanations also have a place in this story).

You know how they say that one man’s garbage is another man’s treasure?  Well how about, one woman’s dingy, one-horse-town is another woman’s heaven on earth?  Sometimes I think the path to peace/contentment are hidden. Hidden well.  But I believe that peace, joy, and contentment are achievable here on earth.  And they begin with a journey of the heart.  A courageous heart.  A thankful heart.  A humble heart.  A truthful heart.  But mostly, a courageous heart.

“Every place of which the sole of your feet treads, I have given it to you….” Joshua 1: 3

“Only be strong and VERY courageous [and follow God], so that you may have success wherever you go.” Joshua 1: 7

“Have I not commanded you?  Be strong and courageous!  Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”  Joshua 1: 9

God has put a song in your heart.  It has a one of a kind melody.  What if, in heaven, we each sing back to God the true melody he predestined each of us to sing?  Because it is perfected, it is beautiful to his ears.  A “new song.” Like nothing ever before heard on earth.  (Revelations 14: 3)

What if He (God) believes and hopes that we have the capacity and are able to sing this same song here on earth?  What if He has asked us to do so?  How about doing the best rendition of that song we possibly can today?

What if finding your song and creatively (and boldly!) plucking her chords (and ultimately fulfilling your God-given destiny) is the path to peace, joy, and contentment?

Oh yes, I know the legalistic church will tell you to conform.  Society will tell you not to color out of her lines.  The sheep who are spilling over the cliff will insist you follow the rest of the herd. (whether that herd is in a church building or on the street).

Jesus was rejected by the “church.”

Jesus was frowned upon by society.

Jesus never traveled with the sheep.

You might argue that he couldn’t have possibly been joyful, nor could he have been contented, or a man with a peaceful heart given his tumultuous circumstances.  But I argue that it would take a great deal of contentment (grounding), joy (knowing the bigger picture), and peacefulness (being SURE of who He was and sure of the calling on His life) to endure the physical and mental anguish he subjected himself to.

You see, when you KNOW who you are (and in Whom you believe), and you walk in that calling boldly, courageously, creatively, with freedom and abandon the world (yes, the whole world) sits up and takes notice.  Your wellspring of joy runs deep.  Your song is unique and captivating.  Your toes are wise enough to sink themselves in the tall grass.  Your ears take the time to revel in the Robin’s song.  And you are able to see what’s right, see what’s there and breathe fresh air ever after.

God has brought me to a unique place.  I’m kind of liking it.  You could say that I am truly content for the first time in my life.  Well, the second time in my life, really.  I have vague recollections of bliss and unconcern from my infancy to age seven.  Don’t we all?  Those were the days when we took joy in the little things.  The dark emotions hadn’t yet settled in and made their dwelling in our spirits.  And each new day, every new hour, every moment, was lived entirely in the now with exuberant wonder and delight.  Tomorrow wasn’t fretted over- wasn’t even entertained, really and yesterday was forgotten.  We always moved on.  Our physical bodies were relatively unpolluted and our spirits high.

I started a journey a few years back (was it seven?) to achieve that child-like joy and contentment.  I was on a quest to find it.  Some of you may recall my mentioning that a time or two.  I had to find it.  Because it was the one era of my life where I was singing my song close to perfection.

I wasn’t following a crowd.  I was stumbling in.  Awkward and beautiful.  My cheeks were flush.  My eyes shining with a million love lights.  I was who God created me to be. I was breathing fresh air.

And then one day in grade two, she disappeared.  I miss her.  So I went looking.

Forty-one years.  That’s how long it’s taken me to get this close.

My hands are in the dirt. I intern at an organic farm two days a week.  I sit in silence in the fields doing tedious work under the hot sun. And the ground speaks to me.  I work with young adults hungry for the lessons of life.  Where will their journey take them?  Can I offer a hand up?

I’ve seen the land owner’s finger nails long ago succumbed to their ever present half moon of soil.  I’ve seen the veins ripple down his arms and spring forth into his hands giving testimony to the many hours flexing with the harsh realities of nature.  I’ve seen him running at full speed with his young interns enjoying a moment away from the rows.

I’ve watched his wife wrestle with Llama, sheep, ram, and goat, rosy cheeked and glorious hair not erased from under her arms.

I’ve delighted in the sixty-eight year old sweetheart who rides her bike through this one horse town stopping to chat with young and old alike.

I walk silently through the sweet smelling orchards, watch the sparrows dip and turn and dive along the cliffs, and kiss my husband long and languid on a bridge over the river.

My daughter calls with delightful interruption, and I marvel at my grown son’s integrity.  Life is good.

We’ve decided to purchase a new camera and simply capture it all.  We’ve opted to live in our RV for a few summers while we intern at the farm to gain skills to better feed the needy with life-giving vegetables.  We have no house payment- no mortgage or rent.  Our extra money goes into a greeting card business that screams fulfillment of our beliefs and screams success.  The icing on the cake is our winter months spent in Florida near my other son and his wife and a closer proximity to my husband’s family.  Did I mention that God threw in a motorcycle for us to ride free of charge for the summer?  ( A comfortable two seater given by the hand of the husband of the gorgeous sixty-eight year old).  All we had to do was buy insurance.

It simply doesn’t get any better than this folks.  For Me.  But it didn’t come without the tenacity of following my heart and the courage to answer God’s call on my life.  Is my call different than the call on your life?  You bet!  Does it appear strange to you?  Probably.  Did I suffer ridicule for it?  How could I not?

But oh the benefits I have reaped!

One Of These Days
When My Feet Are On The Ground
I’m Gonna Look Around And See

See What’s Right, See What’s There
And Breathe Fresh Air, Ever After.

I’m content.  Who’d have thought that contentment would reside in a small dot on the map up by the Canadian border and living in an RV?  Will wonders never cease?

What is your song?  When is the last time you sang it?  Truly sang it?  I challenge you to ask God to reveal to you what your song is (I did!), then I pray for you the courage to sing it no matter what ANYONE else says.  Remember to be strong and VERY courageous!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UPDATE*   We’ve settled down into a cute little house with lots of room for gardens in upper Washington state near the Canadian border! (2012)