My 5-year-old friend Caleb loves the song “Beautiful Day” by U2. He goes around singing like a rock star, “It’s a beautiful day – skafuldjifeelak! It’s a beautiful day!”
The first time I heard him, I laughed, “I’m never quite sure what Bono is saying right there either.”
Caleb gave me a patronizing look and replied slowly and clearly, “He says, ‘It’s a beautiful day, ska-ful-dji-fee-lak.’”
I can’t argue with you, Caleb.
Later I went home and looked in the CD liner. Turns out the lyrics are, “It’s a beautiful day, the sky falls and you feel like it’s a beautiful day.” So, pretty close.
I love the song too: it’s a true rock song. I have it on CD, but I especially love it when I hear it on the radio. The heartbeat pulse at the beginning always makes my own heart leap with hope. But for me the best part of the song is the line, “I know I’m not a hopeless case.” I need that affirmation. I need to believe that I can change, that God will complete the good work he’s started in me.
Once, when struggling to find hope for myself, I wrote this chorus:
You fear that you’ll only repeat the same scene,
Or roll like a stone to the doom that you dread –
The future you see when you look straight ahead.
But you don’t have to be what you always have been.
This is essential to what I believe: I am not a hopeless case. Neither are you.
********
In the interest of sharing the hope, here is U2 performing “Beautiful Day.” Enjoy!
By the way, if you’re not sure you like U2 – if they’re too epic/mainstream/popular for you – I’d recommend watching one of their concerts on DVD, because they just might change your mind. They are at their best live.
