Build a Rocket Boys!

Ok, so once again I would like to turn your attention to another band called Elbow. The song is called “Lippy Kids.” I have posted their video and would love for you to watch and listen, because this is another inspiring song.

I love music! (Could you tell?) I find this song very moving (a verb). When I was reading through the lyrics I felt that this was a very reminiscent song. I feel myself looking back on my childhood, realizing that those days were golden. I feel the cool autumn air blow by me as I ride my bike without a care in the world.  Sigh. If only I knew that then.

But wait, let me think about this again. I find it interesting when he says to those kids, “Do they know those days are golden,” because he isn’t saying that the days of childhood are golden. When I thought about this more he is saying “those days”, and the days in the life of those kids in the song are the present days to them. They are living in the present. Which I take to mean that each and every present day is golden.

So what? (That is a great question)

“Lippy kids on the corner begin settling like crows.” Do you ever feel like that? Now? Back then? That you were just going with the flow, following the crowd. I know I did. I do.

What is your rocket that you are building?

Thankfully, we don’t have to stay that way. And this song not only reminds us to shoot for the stars, but more importantly, calls us to do so. “Build a rocket boys!” This simple statement isn’t just telling us to dream big, and aim for the skies, but it is calling us to action, to build! (Another verb!) Not to just set our sights to the skies, but to build a rocket to take us there.

Think about that statement for a second…”Build a rocket boys!” Can you imagine actually building a rocket? What a daunting task. It is one thing to have big dreams, but another thing entirely to put in the work, the effort, and the patience to build a rocket. I don’t know about you, but I don’t know much about building a rocket. It would probably take me an awfully long time to do so. So long in fact, that by the time I am actually done, I might be too old to actually do anything with that rocket, or should I say, want to do anything with that rocket. But that is something that we have to do. We have to put in the work in order to get to where we want to be.

But that’s ok. The thing with rockets is, once you have one, you can go anywhere. It doesn’t have to be where it was when we were young. You don’t have to be in a hurry to build it either. You have your entire lifetime to build that rocket. God has blessed you with the time to build it. But it is up to you to do it. To build. (My friend and pastor had a great sermon about this, God, giving us blessings, and us doing the work. If you would like to read it you can here. It is entitled “No, you do it!” You will have to scroll down a ways.) Buckminster Fuller said, “God is a verb.” That might sound daunting for some, especially in this “give it to me now!” society.  But just think of the things you can do, and the places you can go with a rocket. Better yet, don’t think. Just go. Go out, and build.

“Build a rocket boys. Build a rocket boys!”