Thursday, March 9, 2017

You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened . . .

In the annals of "Pop" music, one of the biggest hits  . . .  if not the biggest hit . . . .  for Gladys Knight and the Pips was their version of "You're The Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me."  Although I don't have any numbers or statistics in regards to how many records it sold, I would dare say that their version was the biggest selling version of this song.  But it would probably surprise many people that they were not the first artists to record this song.  Actually, I enjoy the version of this song by Ray Price, which was released in the 1950's . . . . some twenty years prior to the "Gladys Knight / Pips" version.  Now the song was obviously a song telling of  love between two people devoted to one another.  And yet as I listen to the song I can not help but think of God when I listen to the lyrics of the song.

In particular, some of the lyrics in the song that make me think of God are as follows:  "If anyone should ever write my life story . . . . For whatever reason there might be . . .  You'll be there between each line of pain and glory . . . "

When I hear that last line of the lyrics mentioned above I can not help but think of God because, without a doubt, He has been there for me in the good times and the bad.  We know as human beings we will experience good and we will experience bad.  Sometimes we will get a promotion at our job and sometimes we may get laid off.  Sometimes we will have the pleasure of getting bills paid off and other times we will end up receiving an unexpected bill like when the car quits running.  Our lives are similar to the weather sometimes . . . .  always unpredictable  . . .  despite the best efforts of the weather-man.  Life sometimes goes more smoothly than other times and life is certainly more difficult at times and less difficult at other times.  But whether we are experiencing good times or difficult times, God is the one constant that we can always depend on in our life.  To paraphrase the song, "God has been there between each line of pain and glory" in our life.

"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven." (Ecclesiastes 3:1) Of course, this verse and the following verses from the Third Chapter of Ecclesiastes are very famous.  These verses remind us that there is a time for every action.  Just as there are different seasons:  Winter . . .  Spring . . . . Summer . . . Fall . . . . there are times for us to build and times for us to work.  There are times for us to rest and times for us to move.  There are times for us to rejoice and times for us to mourn.  None of us are guaranteed an easy life.  None of us are guaranteed a perfect life.  None of us are guaranteed a life without burden.  But no matter what season we find ourselves   .  . . . no matter what difficulties life throws at us . . . .  we know that God is always there for us.  The Psalmist reminds us:  "Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou are God. (Psalm 90:2)  God is indeed everlasting and His love is everlasting.

The thing that we always have to remember about God is that He is always faithful to us even when we are not always faithful to Him.  There are times in our life where we get sidetracked.  There are times in our life where we get distracted.  There are times in our life perhaps when God seems distant.  And yet we know that it anything, we are the ones that separate ourselves from God and His Majesty.  "For I am the Lord, I change not . . ." (Malachi 3:6)

Always remember that God is there for us if we only go to Him.  Spend this holy season of Lent looking forward to Easter.  We are not a people that live in the past.  We are a people of hope.  We look towards the future.  Our hope lies in Christ, Who is our Saviour.  "'Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is." (Jeremiah 17:7)