In the western movie, Paint Your Wagon, Clint Eastwood and Lee Marvin sing the theme song that includes the chorus, “Where are we going, I don’t know, when we gonna get there I ain’t certain, all I know is I am on my way.” It is my favorite part of the movie, and perhaps the only redeemable part. Lee and Clint can’t sing a lick, but the tune is catchy and the message is haunting. The story is about two wandering gold prospecting partners who both end up sharing the same wife, women being so scarce in Gold country. At first there is plenty of gold and growth in the town and all is well. When the gold plays out and the town closes Clint and Lee are ready to move on, but their “wife” will not leave the town or her home built for her by all the miners. Clint ends up staying with his wife finding in her the only satisfying treasure his heart seeks. Lee heads off down the trail in search of the next promise of treasure singing, “Where am I going, I don’t know, when am I gonna get there I ain’t certain, all I know is I am on my way.”
This morning I woke up long before the sun got up feeling like Lee and wanting to be Clint. I listened to a Wayne Jacobs message last night that caused me to rethink my basic goal/gold oriented premise. My Christian life has been a wandering treasure hunt, going from place to place digging up enough nuggets to survive and exist, never hitting the mother lode my heart wants to be out there. You know the one. It solves all my problems, satisfies all my dreams, provides all the security, ensures all the success and makes God really proud of me, maybe even good enough to offer me a partnership. I am beginning to suspect that (heaven forbid) there may not be such a mother lode out there. It may be like the Gold of the Superstition Mountains of Arizona. Lots of looking, hoping and dreaming, but no gold…maybe there never was any mother lode, just the dreams of old prospectors who needed it to be true. Have you been wandering around prospecting, needing to find the mother lode of your life too? I’m wondering if we have been missing the point all along and gone in search of a fable. Maybe we find a biblical truth in a most unlikely place. Maybe Clint got it right, the treasure his heart was seeking is not in the success of finding gold (success of/in service) but in the relationship. Clint gave up nothing of importance and gained everything his heart longed for. I wonder…. If I could totally stop looking at the glitter and gold of ministry that continuously eludes me and let my heart settle on the relationship of love I have in the Father, would I find the true mother lode? I'm thinking Clint and Wayne may be on to something here.
What do you think? Yea, me too.
John 14
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4 comments:
Amen:)
Loved this post Dad and glad you watched that. It was good wasn't it? (Not Paint the Wagon - Wayne Jacobs hee hee). Feeling much the same way as you and life is looking much more colorful. The rainbow at the end isn't nearly so transparent.
this is really deep and sure hits home. hmmm... (ps - you'd be proud of me - i just talked to a woman at a auto parts store, of all places, about living loved... God seemed to have a hand in SPECIFICALLY where we broke down. :) i think she might be living slightly more loved today than Friday night.) :)
heidi jo
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