From reggae to rap, I like most music. I can't tell you who my favorite artist is or even what my favorite song is. They both change with the seasons. It will be all Bruce one season, then all country, then all hip hop. As my mood changes so does my music.
As a result, songs are often tied closely to specific seasons and memories.
A Garth Brooks song brings back memories of riding in the back of an old Toyota through rice fields in Thailand.
A Bob Marley song reminds me of driving by myself to Yosemite (my old truck only had a tape player...I only had one tape).
A certain worship song brings me back to a bus of high school students rolling through central California.
Certain other songs remind me of girls I dated.
Most of the time, when those songs come on, it makes me want to go back there. I miss the people, the drive, the girl.
It's easy to look back and feel like then was better than now. I have been thinking recently about how I glorify the past. Not that I make it out to be better than it really was (though I probably do that some), but that I make it out to be more important and enjoyable than the present. I live in the past at the expense of the present.
But then I think about it; back then I was always thinking about the future. I was never fully appreciating the present. I was always looking to the next thing: the next trip, the next experience, the next stage in the relationship with the girl. It was not until later that I truly began to appreciate that specific season of life.
We are always in danger of living for tomorrow, today. We are equally at risk of waiting until tomorrow to appreciate today.
May we appreciate this season, this day, this place, these people, and this story today. Tomorrow will always be there, but you only have one chance at today.
Grace and Peace.
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