Pardon the double negative, but that’s how the Bee Gees wrote it and sang it. “It’s much harder to come by, I’m waiting in line.”
How do you perceive those two lines? Puzzling, aren’t they? Certainly, you could get upset thinking of loss and unrequited love. You could lament your state of life with a “poor me” attitude. When is my turn? It seems everyone else is enjoying their slice of heaven, and all that you are doing is waiting in line.
Of course, life can be hard wondering if God has forgotten you. Jealous of others’ happiness is robbing you of your own chance of happiness. I used the sack of potatoes analogy before, but it is worth another look. Carrying around the weight of negativity and pessimism can only result in more misery as the potatoes begin to rot and stink.
One of my favorite stories is about the flood. The river had crested and over run the embankment like Hurricane Katrina caused in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. Certain doom was at hand; however, there was one holdout refusing to evacuate. Standing near his front door, the man saw a car stopped with the driver pleading for him to come with him before it was too late. “God will save me; I will not go with you.” The water level rose quickly, and the man went up to the second floor of his home. A boat was floating nearby, and the captain called out for him to jump in the boat or be drowned. “God will save me; I will not go with you.” Now the water was nearing the top of the man’s house, so he climbed up on the roof. This time a helicopter came by dropping down a ladder with the pilot yelling for him to climb or surely drown. “God will save me; I will not go with you.” He drowned. Arriving at the pearly gates, he complained to God asking why He didn’t save him. God assuredly asked, “Weren’t that car, boat, and helicopter enough?
Recognizing the signs of heaven, opportunity, and happiness is more of a learned skill than just a natural ability. Most of us find it easier to seek sympathy which often only increases our misery. Just as a side note, have you ever noticed that when someone is giving you sympathy, it is because he or she is not as pathetic as you are?
Despite financially poor circumstances and prejudicial experiences growing up, Cookie and I in our book Black and White Like You and Me urge all, as the Bee Gees sing, to “make your world a summer day, not just a dream to fade away.”
Let’s recognize heaven in one another as we travel together through this life on earth. “I can see a new tomorrow . . . love is such a beautiful thing.”
