Gospel music is hilarious, actually.

In the South, it doesn’t matter what your religious denomination is–we all know the words to I’ll Fly Away.

I remember being a young girl in church and thinking the opening verse was strangely grim:

“Some glad morning, WHEN THIS LIFE IS OVER. . . “

Death. I didn’t want to think about my life ending, and I certainly didn’t think I would be glad when it did. But then you get to the next line, and it starts to make sense:

“iiiiiiI’ll fly away!

To a place where joy shall never end”

Okay, that’s better. I mean, I guess if I get to fly, dying isn’t so bad. Still, that hymn gives me a chuckle even today.

“When I die, Hallelujah! By and by. . . “

Nowadays, I still try not to think about dying or what’s on the other side and do my best to be ~present~.

This morning, I was walking around my garden to see if the seeds I planted only five days ago had begun to sprout (they haven’t, and I knew that), when ZOOM! A young robin flew right past me and landed on the edge of a raised bed. Well, look at you, zipping on by like a firecracker. Meanwhile, I’ve barely wiped the sleep from my eyes.

He sat there a while, chest puffed, looking all young and proud. Two downy feathers stuck out from his small head. I imagined him saying to me, “I just learned how to fly.”

After a minute, he realized how big and scary I actually was and flew off into the trees.

Of all the things humans can do, of all the thoughts we can think and possibilities we can imagine, we still envy the creatures of the sky for being able to do what we never can. Yes, we can build our rockets and planes and helicopters, but we cannot lift off and fly on a whim like birds can.

Humbling.

I think every human has dreamed about being able to fly. It’s the number one answer to the question, “if you had one superpower, what would it be?” (source: I made that up). Who wouldn’t? It sure looks like fun. Even cooler than that, though, is the ability to go anywhere whenever you want.

Sometimes, the here and now can be quite boring. When there’s nothing else to look forward to, there’s always retirement. Or death.

In the meantime, there are gardens to grow, birds to watch, and laughs to share. On extra special days, you get all three at once!

Life on earth isn’t so bad. But what a terrible hymn that would be.