Build it anyway?

You can spend your whole life building

Something from nothin'

One storm can come and blow it all away

Build it anyway

You can chase a dream

That seems so out of reach

And you know it might not ever come your way

Dream it anyway

God is great

But sometimes life aint good

And when I pray

It doesn't always turn out like I think it should

But I do it anyway

Do it anyway

This word's gone crazy

Its hard to believe

That tomorrow will turn out better than today

Believe it anyway

You can love someone with all your heart

For all the right reasons

In a moment they can choose to walk away

Love 'em anyway

God is great

But sometimes life ain't good

And when I pray

It doesn't always turn out like I think it should

But I do it anyway

You can poor your soul out singing

A song you believe in

That tomorrow they'll forget you ever sang

Sing it anyway

Sing it anyway

I sing

I dream

I love

Anyway

(Martina McBride - Anyway)

I heard Martina McBride singing these lyrics on American Idol today, and it immediately impacted me. First of all because it mentioned God and was being sung on American Idol, but after that, because of the attitude it encourages. I think it is a beautiful and very powerful song. I can imagine it being many peoples 'life anthem' in that it really speaks to them and produces in them some sort of application for their lives. But I had to stop and just think to myself, 'hang on, it sounds good, but do I actually agree with these lyrics?'

I re-read these lyrics, and added to the end of each phrase the question, 'why?'
Build it anyway - why?
Dream it anyway - why?
Pray it anyway - why?
Believe it anyway - why?
Love them anyway - why?
Sing it anyway - why?

As a Christian, I know that sometimes, even when we can't understand, and even when we don't know the answer to the 'why' question, faith requires us to believe anyway. And when we pray and God seems to be ignoring us, faith requires us to pray anyway. Also, love is something we do, not because of what we get out of it, but just because we do. I know all that, and so if this can be true for those things, then why not for 'dreaming', 'singing', or 'building', (whatever that might mean metaphorically). But again I have to askthe question, why'?

Take dreaming for instance. 'You can chase a dream that seems so out of reach, and you know that it might never come your way.' What is the point in dreaming for something that in all likelihood is going to end in disappointment? Or building - You can spend your wole life building something fom nothing, but one storm can come and blow it all away. If you know that - why bother building it?

I told someone last week that I was in a very Ecclesiastical mood, in the sense that I am with Solomon in his frustration at the meaninglessness of life. We could build, dream, pray, believe, love and sing, and enjoy doing those things, but what does it actually achieve? Do we feel better? Maybe, yes. Although not always because the crush of disappointment can hurt like crazy, but maybe for a while, the positivity and hope represented by these lyrics can make us feel better. Someone once said to me, 'I don't know why we are here on this earth, but we are here, so we might as well enjoy it.' Is that it? Is our whole purpose in life just to make ourselves feel better about being here? To try to find some smidgen of enjoyment in an otherwise rubbish life? Is there something more? Does hoping, building, praying, believing, loving or singing change anything? Do we do these things to mask the rubishness of life, or are they worthwhile in themselves. Are they things we should do because they change the world or because they make us feel better? I guess my question really is, 'what is the meaning of life'? How often throughout life will we have to come back to that question before we truly understand the answer?!