Way back when the English language was invented, the word “want” meant to lack something. You would be evaluated and found wanting — perhaps you didn’t have the character or the skills or the knowledge, so they’d say you want a little training to get better. I’ve been up half the night and I want for sleep. “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”
Nowadays we’re more likely to say we “need,” although “want” and “need” get mixed up all the time. “Want” tends to be used to describe things we desire that aren’t so important but would be nice to have — I want a better car, or I want David Rosenfelt’s new book.
My text alert just blooped. I want to keep writing, but some silly instinct needs to see what someone wants to tell me.
Surprise, it wasn’t important, and then I scrolled Facebook for five minutes anyway. I want the discipline to ignore what should be ignored until I complete the task at hand. See what I meant?
Senators calling for a military coup — politicians not bothering to hide when they’re lying — a world turned upside down.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.” (Galatians 6:22-24)
Where shall I find love, joy, peace and the rest? Certainly not by surfing the political TV channels. Can I go into a cocoon of joy, peace, patience, kindness and the rest? Won’t I be swallowed whole when the forces of hate and violence overcome us?
Perhaps, maybe even probably.
In the meantime, those of us who love God and love our neighbors might provide an oasis from the storms. Those who choose not to participate in the madness may be destroyed by the gleefully mad participants, but at least we do so lovingly, gently, and confident that the madness is not destined to last forever.
That almost sounds glum and defeatist, but it’s the exact opposite. I would rather live my life seeking reasons to love and live in peace than to chase down every dark influence skulking in gutters and sewers.
I have no reason to hate and every reason to love. Those who sow the fruit of the Spirit will feed more souls than those who sow discord and hate.
I’m not perfect. Some days I’m discouraged and fail to hide my melancholy in this space. But I’m pleased to discover it’s easier to find reasons to hope than to despair. I hear them in the honking of geese as they gather for their migration. I see them in the tapestry of a sunset over the water. I feel them in the crisp morning air and smell them in the aroma of fallen leaves. I taste them in the sweetness of an apple plucked from a local orchard.
Most of all I find reasons to hope in the friends and everyday people I encounter all the time, who are more likely to show kindness, patience and gentleness toward me despite all the efforts to divide us.
When I’m tempted to get swept into the maelstrom of suspicion and hatred, I only need to stop for a quiet moment to find the joy. It’s waiting for you, too, in the quiet. Stop, taste and see.
Most of the songs on my new album, New Dog Old Tricks, were written in the last two or three years, with two exceptions. One is “Let’s Go Steady,” which dates back to my college years in 1974.
I sat down with the idea of making fun of the doo-wop days of the 1950s, a time of innocence when holding hands and going steady were ostensibly as hot and heavy as teenage romance got. I was relatively pleased with the results.
A couple of years later I had a change of heart and decided a sweet and innocent song about young romance wasn’t necessarily something to make fun of, and I usually sing it “straight” these days.
“Let’s Go Steady” thus counts as one of the “Old Tricks” on this album, a song essentially unchanged for a half-century except that I sing it in the key of G these days because, in its original key of C, I just can’t hit those high notes anymore.
I conceived of New Dog, Old Tricks as having multiple instruments and harmonies and all that good stuff, but I eventually came to realize my oldest trick is sitting alone with my guitar playing my songs to a friend and/or family, so that’s what you’ve got here. Time enough with my next project to go a-multi-tracking.
