I’ve been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet, a pawn and a king.
          I’ve been up and down and over and out and I know one thing:
          Each time I find myself, flat on my face,
          I pick myself up and get back in the race!

 

 

My friend Tanya and I love that song.  In our younger days as roommates on Capitol Hill we used to sit on the rickety old back porch of our 1800’s row house, eat home cooked soul food, drink red wine, and sing…

          I said that’s life, and as funny as it may seem
          Some people get their kicks,
          Stompin’ on a dream
          But I don’t let it, let it get me down,
          ‘Cause this fine ol’ world it keeps spinning around

Yeah, we were about 23 then.  Young.  Idealistic.  Dare I say… naïve.  However, if you are young, idealistic and naïve, what better mantra to have?  Now that I am 30 and married, with a mortgage, and responsibilities, it’s not been as easy to roll with the rat pack like I used to. 

Is it realistic to expect to maintain a certain level idealism as you grow up into the grindstone of life?  Now, I am not trying to come up with the meaning of life or espouse some grandiose, pie in the sky, mentality about how to achieve Zen or whatever.  And I do *not* think Frank Sinatra has the answers either. 

I am wondering why I still hum this song to myself when craziness ensues. 

What I do hear in this old song is this:  Take Heart. 

What does it mean? 
 

Take heart … To be confident or courageous.

Take heart … To start to feel more hopeful and more confident.

Take heart … to feel encouraged.

Psalm 27:14… Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.

Psalm 31:24… Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD.

Matthew 9:2… Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.”

Matthew 9:22… Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed from that moment.

Here is what I think.

Be confidant

Be courageous

Be hopeful

Be encouraged

Be strong

Be faithful

Believe

Why? 

Not cause Frank said it, not cause I said it.  But because Jesus said it: 

John 16:33… “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But Take Heart! I have overcome the world.”