Inducted into the Rock-N-Roll Hall of Fame in
2002, The Talking Heads have been an everyband on "Greatest" lists.
Four of their albums appear on Rolling Stones' 500 Greatest Albums of all Time. In the 2011 update of Rolling Stones' 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, The Talking Heads come in at 100. 3 of their songs are listed on the Rock-N-Roll Hall of Fame's The Songs That Shaped Rock-N-Roll list. Today's feature song was one of those included.
"Once
In A Lifetime" never made the top 40. In fact, it took the live
version of the song to break the top 100, peaking at #91 on Billboard's
Hot 100. It's legacy however is found in lead singer David Byrne's
activities in the music video. Dressed up as a circuit evangelist circa
1950, Byrne's choreography for the video was designed by Toni Basil
(1982's #1 Hit "Mickey") and inspired after watching epilepsy victims.
Again, it WAS the early days of MTV...
Lyrically,
"Once In A Lifetime" questions one's ability to get the things they
have acquired over their lifetime and the struggle they may have gone
through to collect those items. The inquisition comes to a conclusion
that we are not unlike anyone else in our asking ("same as it ever was")
and find that perhaps it was not worth the angst it took to come into
possession of our loot.
The inherent desire of man to amass "stuff" , however, is a very strong impetus to overcome. Reality shows like "Hoarders" and even "American Pickers" are replete with men and women who have too many things. Many times their prized "collections" have come into ruin as they haven't had time, resources or desire to clean up the mess and organize the good stuff. Take a look around your own domicile. Do you have items that you once thought were the "must haves" of their time, only to see them collecting dust in a corner now? I sure do. This is an issue that has been around for millennia. Even Jesus came across those who had too much stuff...
Recently,
I have begun to notice across the landscape many new "barns" being
constructed in our community. Maybe you have as well. They look like
this:
There
is no inherent issue with needing some extra space, especially if you
are in a small apartment/condo, or if you have children. This problem
comes when you analyze why you need the extra space. Is it out of
necessity or out of an intense desire to not get rid of stuff you don't
even use anymore?
I've
shared with you before of my love for vinyl records. My music
collection includes cds, cassettes, and my precious vinyl albums. I
have 33's, 45's, and 78's and players that will play each format. What
once was incredibly precious became a less valued commodity at the birth
of our MOST precious children. My media went the way of so many
"treasures"...you guessed it, out to the garage. At this point, we do
not require an additional "barn" to store our garage stuff in, as we
periodically do the time honored garage/yard sale as a sense of
purging. My wife and daughters are often perplexed as they assess the
landscape of our yard sale and notice only their things have made it literally to the curb.
After all, my "stuff" has intrinsic value and is really more of an
"investment"? The stinging question comes when I'm asked if I plan to
sell any of it...when the answer is "no" the intrinsic value of my stuff
becomes zero, zilch, goose egg, absolutely nothing. But I
digress...alot. Cue the redeeming Spiritual analogy...
As
I pass the mini storage units that have become so prevalent in our
community, I can't help but think of the rich young man in today's
passage. While his thoughts were that he would no longer have a need if
he stored up his grain, his reality soon became that he had no need of
ANY of his grain. He went to the expense to build extra storage
thinking he would be able to live high, wide and handsome. The truth of
the matter was that someone else was going to be the beneficiary of his
extra barns.
Don't
think that the rich young man's problem was one just in Biblical
times. Look around. "New barns" are being built all around to satisfy
the desires of mankind. These desires can spawn undesirable
characteristics of selfishness and greed. Our self-centeredness can cause
us to do the unthinkable. We build extra "barns" to make sure we have enough when we could be sharing that "grain" with our community. We don't share with others the blessings of
our bounty. We hold back from God what is His to begin with. We lay
claim to that which is not even ours. The results...cultural unrest,
hatred, jealousy, war, famine...you get the idea.
This is not how the Creator, Who shares His entire world with us, intends for us to act as we let our days go by. As the water is flowing underground, we are to be about caring for others. By doing so, we stand the chance that our time will not be...same as it ever was. The Apostle Paul had a reminder for the church at Corinth that rings extremely true in our world... 1 Corinthians 13 NIV/The Message parallel
This is not how the Creator, Who shares His entire world with us, intends for us to act as we let our days go by. As the water is flowing underground, we are to be about caring for others. By doing so, we stand the chance that our time will not be...same as it ever was. The Apostle Paul had a reminder for the church at Corinth that rings extremely true in our world... 1 Corinthians 13 NIV/The Message parallel
...or, it can be same as it ever was...just building new barns that someone else gets to use.
'Til Tuesday,
Serving HIM by serving you,
Randy
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