Just Thinking... Rainy Days and Mondays
6/13/2016
Just Thinking - Rainy Days & Mondays
I grew up in era when the music was not always easy to understand or even simply to feel. I know I am old, because I have become like my parents as they said my music was too loud and that they could not understand it; this is now how I respond to the music of the younger generation. I'm no rapper, no hip hopper, and no fan of heavy metal. (Is that even still a type of music?) Yes, I'm a Carpenter's kind of man.
In the 70s Karen and Richard Carpenter performed Paul William's song which made it to the number 2 spot on the charts in 1971. (I was only 11 years old by the way.)
Talkin' to myself and feelin' old
Sometimes I'd like to quit
Nothin' ever seems to fit
Hangin' around
Nothin' to do but frown
Rainy days and Mondays always get me down
What I've got they used to call the blues
Nothin' is really wrong
Feelin' like I don't belong
Walkin' around
Some kind of lonely clown
Rainy days and Mondays always get me down
There is a sense of this after coming home from Annual Conference. I'm finding that I'm talking to myself more and more (few listen to me anyway) and that I'm feeling old. It was 30 years ago when I was ordained, and so much has changed. I get to feeling that I don't fit much anymore and that maybe I'm just hanging around till 72. I know many call me a clown of sorts. Yes, the Monday after Annual Conference can get me down, but not for these reasons.
I get down because, for me, in spite of all the work I must now do as a Superintendent, I had a good time. I got to hang around some very special friends and to renew old acquaintances. I got to be blessed by some amazing preaching and some truly uplifting worship experiences. I got to be involved in a few life-changing issues (even if things did not go my way). I once again got to serve the One who called me over 46 years ago in the way this One wants me to serve today.
Awe, but it's Monday, and all that is behind us all. I'm down, but not for long. I am reminded that the Apostle Paul tells us to "... forget the things that are behind and reach out for the things that are ahead of me. The goal I pursue is the prize of God's upward call in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:13 -14)
So only few listen, but I will keep on speaking the powerful love of Jesus Christ.
So I'm older, I understand grace so much better
So I'm a clown for God ... nothing more fun or better than that.
So it might rain, but in that rain God renews the face of the earth and each one of us.
So it is Monday; that only means we are blessed to start again and to really make it the day the Lord has made.
No frowning for us, my colleagues in the call, because even if we are down God will pick us up and set our feet on a firm foundation. There is much to do on this Monday after Annual Conference. Will you join me?
Dana