Better is One Day

This morning I was thinking about the song "Better is One Day."  I thought of it because one of the Psalms in my daily reading is a Psalm of the Sons of Korah.  So is Psalm 84, the Psalm on which the song is based.  Without a doubt, that is my favorite Psalm for more reasons than I have time to write about now.

The song.  This is about the song.

The first time I sang "Better is One Day," I was in a church in the mountains of Colorado.  Talk about being aware of the majesty and creativity of God.  I'm sure there are many places in the world where God's power and creation are on full display, but the Rockies seem to be a grand place to start.  As we were singing the song, I couldn't keep my eyes from the windows where the power and beauty and wonder of the mountains reminded me of Whose presence I was declaring was great.

I also couldn't keep my mind off of the people I was with.  It was a spring break trip with dozens of high schoolers.  We had taken a Greyhound-style bus and a couple of vans full of teenagers from Grand Rapids, MI, to Colorado for a week of skiing and day trips in Glenwood Springs.  As we were singing the song, in the midst of those beautiful teenagers, I thought, "Yes.  I would spend one day in the presence of these lovely children of God pointing them to Him."  One day with them and with Him.  Because it would be worth it.  Even after how that week ended up, it would have been worth it.

And I couldn't stop thinking about where we were singing it.  Our trip to Glenwood Springs brought us through Denver.  Because we were taking teenagers through Denver, I thought it would be good to take them to Columbine High School.  It was only one year after the tragic shootings at Columbine, and I thought it would have a great impact on the teens to actually see that place and be reminded that what they saw on the news wasn't actually a Hollywood creation.  And, I didn't want to be that close and not get to see it myself.  So we went.  Dozens and dozens of teenagers and adults walked around that school, praying, taking pictures, remembering.  We also went to a church service not far from there.  We attended West Bowles, which is the church where some of the kids who died at Columbine had worshiped.

In that place, in the midst of that majesty interwoven with tragedy and possibility, I sang "Better is One Day" with all my heart.  I learned it that morning and felt as if I'd known it my whole life.  When I sing it today, I still see those images.  And I still think that I would cash it all in for one day with Him.