Over the last week I’ve been listening to an old Nina Simone CD. It was good to remember ‘Feeling Good’. It’s a song of joy, optimism and fresh starts. It’s about feeling good now, whatever’s happened in the past.
Birds flying high, you know how I feel
Sun in the sky, you know how I feel
Breeze driftin’ on by, you know how I feel
It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s a new life
For me, and I’m feeling good
Fish in the sea, you know how I feel
River running free, you know how I feel
Blossom on the tree, you know how I feel
It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s a new life
For me, and I’m feeling good
There’s freedom to be found in appreciating each new day. The birds, the sun, the breeze and the sun transform me, free me, take me from the mundane, the complex, questions without answers, problems without solutions… from feeling perplexed, anxious, uncertain… I’m feeling good!
Dragonfly out in the sun, you know what I mean, don’t you know?
Butterflies all havin’ fun, you know what I mean
Sleep in peace when day is done, that’s what I mean
And this old world, is a new world, and a bold world…
Stars when you shine, you know how I feel
Scent of the pine, you know how I feel
Oh, freedom is mine, and I know how I feel
It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s a new life…
And so this morning I look again at the beautiful world around me. Somehow it changes me. I remember the familiar… the sunrise over the sea… sheep in green fields… the walk in the woods. Everyday experiences can sometimes be taken for granted.
Seeing it in the context of faith I recall Psalm 8 that starts: ‘Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens…’ and finishes
‘…all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!’
And as I marvel again at the creator God who bring transformation, ‘It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s a new life for me and I’m feeling good!’
malcolmsmusings.org 