A Place in the Sun

 

A Place in the Sun. Just the name evokes pleasant images and good feelings. Stevie Wonder is a literal musical genius and Motown legend. I don't even know where to begin. He was such an important  — and positive — influence on my childhood. Considering how awful my father was, maybe I saw Stevie as a kind of father figure. I get good feelings just hearing the opening of one of his hits and am instantly transported to a time and place I can no longer go in the flesh but which remains with me in memory. Sounds can trigger memories, much as smells or tastes do. A Place in the Sun was released in 1966 (He was 16), more than 10 years before I was born. But I love this song even today, much as I do many of Stevie's songs. 

Let's look at the lyrics. 

Like a long, lonely stream
I keep runnin' towards a dream
Movin' on, movin' on
Like a branch on a tree
I keep reachin' to be free
Movin' on, movin' on

'Cause there's a place in the sun
Where there's hope for everyone
Where my poor restless heart's gotta run
There's a place in the sun
And before my life is done
Got to find me a place in the sun

Like an old, dusty road
I get weary from the load
Movin' on, movin' on
Like this tired, troubled earth
I've been rollin' since my birth
Movin' on, movin' on

There's a place in the sun
Where there's hope for everyone
Where my poor restless heart's gotta run
I know there's a place in the sun
And before my life is done
Got to find me a place in the sun

You know when times are bad
And you're feeling sad
I want you to always remember

Yes, there's a place in the sun
Where there's hope for everyone
Where my poor restless heart's gotta run
I know there's a place in the sun

Stevie Wonder (his stage name) was always on the radio when I was a kid. This is a perfect song, much like My Cherie Amour (He was 12 years old) or You Are the Sunshine of my Life (He was 23 and sang about his daughter). Stevie lost his eyesight shortly after he was born six-weeks premature, most likely because care for premature black children was not what it should have been in 1950. He's probably lucky to be alive. And we are lucky he lives, too, because his musical gifts to the world continue. I don't know the man's politics or anything else. If I wanted to dig deeper, maybe I could find something disappointing, but I won't do that. (None of us are perfect, nor are we expected to be. None of us believe all the right things or say or do all the right things.) Here, I just want to say thank you to the man for putting some sunshine in my oftentimes dark childhood. 

This song. Oh, this song. It both reminds me of pleasant times in my past as well as encapsulates my hope for the future. It contains my personal plans. Stevie said it better than I ever could. The lyrics are good, but without his delivery, it wouldn't mean as much. He truly means what he sings. There is a groaning in all of us for the place he sings about. Was he singing about racial equality? I'm sure. In God's eyes, we are all equal. The closer we get to God, the less we see someone's melanin level. We are all God's creation — different in many ways — and each of us precious in His eyes.

A master of blending genres, Stevie presented to us A Place in the Sun (he didn't write it) as a straight-up soul song. (Interestingly, he also sang a version in Italian.) Is there any genre he didn't — or couldn't — do? Opera, perhaps. Hmm. No, he could probably do opera. His skills are God-given and irreplaceable. There is only one Stevie Wonder. And, though we all run a different course, each of us is no less irreplaceable and unique, crafted by a Creator we never see in fullness until we shed our earthly shells. What a strange — and wonderful — life. We are all God's priceless creations. Truly irreplaceable. If God notices a sparrow when it dies, how much greater is the loss when we die? Imagine losing your most priceless, irreplaceable person. Is it your child? Your spouse? A parent? A friend? When each of us dies, we leave a tremendous hole. The next time you count your worth, consider that. And I'm probably talking only to myself. But it's a lesson worth learning — and living. 

Just as this song could not have been performed the same by any other human being, our lives can only be lived by us — and most fully — with God's direction. Like fingerprints, we are uncannily, impossibly unique. We are created for worship. Our lives are best lived when we know the One who made us and strive to know Him more. Anything else is a life lived, but unfulfilled. We all have our deficiencies. But God also endows each of us with incredible talents. Just as a blind man can make wonderful music, so, too, can we accomplish much despite our deficiencies. God always makes a way if we are faithful. 

My Bible states it does not matter what others think of me, only what God thinks. And if God didn't want anything to come between us and gave everything to bring me to Him — including His own son — for all of eternity, that's all I need to know. It doesn't matter who doesn't love me or who mistreats or rejects me. There are so many of them. I endured a tremendous amount of rejection, trauma, and outright hate from even those closest to me. But, if the Creator of the universe loves me so completely, what weight does the rejection and hate of mere man carry?

My life is a destitute mess of abuse, turmoil, trauma, and rejection. Those closest to me were psychopaths, narcissists, broke my heart repeatedly, cheated, betrayed, and didn't know how to love. Perhaps I have not seen the end of those things. But the knowledge of God erases all but the memory of my past. Someday, even those painful memories will fade. Amen. 

This concludes part two of my discussion of worth. In God's eyes, we are all priceless, though we often overlook that glorious knowledge.

Thank you for reading, and God bless.

My new blog, None Dare Call It Treason.