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A Rancher's Rumblings | |
| January 1, 2008 |
| HAVE A FABULOUS NEW YEAR |
The calendar has turned again, and it is 2008. It seems like only yesterday that we were waiting for all of our computers to crash at the dawning of Y2K.
I know that time is passing, because I recently ate my first chicken fried steak at the senior citizens’ price. I liked the price; I didn’t care for the emotions I felt.
It is normal to set some goals for the new year . . . to reflect on what we hope to accomplish.
I have decided that I want 2008 to be a fabulous year, in the best definition of that word.
I am a huge fan of the Eagles. In my mind, they are the greatest singing group in history. They touch my soul deeply with their incredible songs. I often consider their music to be deeply spiritual.
The Eagles just released a new CD, titled “Long Road out of Eden.” They have become the only group in music history to reach number one, with an album consisting of new material, more than 35 years after releasing their debut record. They are that good!!!
My favorite song on the album is “Busy Being Fabulous.” Isn’t that a great title for a song?
The lyrics include the following:
'Cause you were just too busy being fabulous
Too busy to think about us
Lookin' for something you'll never find
You'll never know what you left behind
'Cause you were just too busy being fabulous, uh-huh
(continued)
Sometimes a word’s connotation depends on the context in which it’s placed. In this passage, Don Henley and Glenn Frye have placed the word “fabulous” within a negative context. The subject of their song is a self-centered person who was so focused on “being fabulous” that she did not value love, meaningful relationships, or even—as you learn later in the song—her children. No, she was “just too busy being fabulous”—in other words, living the good life, chasing the next thrill, “lookin’ for something you’ll never find”—that she really missed out on truly living altogether.
I want 2008 to be fabulous with a positive connotation, and I hope that you share my dream. Life is fabulous when we actually realize, every moment of every day, that we are truly partners with the living God in loving people in Jesus’ name. Life is fabulous when we are not looking for something that we will never find; when we do not have to worry about what we left behind; and when we are not too busy to think about others.
Creath Davis studied under Dr. Tracy at Howard Payne a few years ahead of me. He had a wonderful ministry in Dallas before being killed in a plane crash 20 years ago. He wrote an incredible book, titled “Beyond This God Cannot Go.” I urge you to look for a copy and read it.
In that book, Creath wrote a statement that I often quoted when I was a youth minister at First Baptist Church, Gorman 30 years ago: “To store up treasures in heaven, invest yourself in people.” Some ladies in that church carved those words on a piece of wood for me. That piece of wood hangs in my office to this day.
If we live out those words, we will indeed have a fabulous 2008. I urge you to read them again and then heed them: “To store up treasures in heaven, invest yourself in people.”