The theme song conjured up memories of summers at my grandparent’s house. My sister and I grew up without a TV in our house until I was 12. To pass the time, we did crazy things like color, read, ride bikes or create with Legos. In the summers and on Saturdays during the school year, we would visit my grandparents, Oma and Opa, who had an enchanted spare room with a closet stocked with Oma’s old high heels and costume jewelry, a sofa-bed and (drum-roll, please) a cable TV – heaven for a TV-starved 10 year-old girl! At night, my sister Erika and I would plop ourselves on the sofa-bed and turn the TV to Nick-at-Nite to enjoy a line-up of “I Dream of Jeanie”, “Bewitched”, and of course “The Monkees”. I think we were both captivated by Davey Jones and his accent. But who wasn’t!? Our “official” bedtime was something like 10 o’clock when we were at Oma and Opa’s, but Erika and I always turned off the lights and turned the volume down really low, huddling close to the TV to sneak in an extra episode or two before we would hear one grandparent loudly proclaim to the other from outside our door, “I’m going to go check on the girls now,” and we would hurriedly turn off the TV and hop under the covers, knowing we’d gotten away with it yet again!
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| Playing dress up with the TV in the background. 1983 |
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| Vegging out to the TV. Is there someone else in the room? 1986 |
As the lyrics from “The Monkees” theme song were absent-mindedly strumming through my head, I began to think about the words, which I’d never really done before. (I added the underlines for emphasis, hint, hint...)
"Here we come
Walking down the street
We get the funniest looks from
Everyone we meet.
Hey, hey we're the Monkees,
and people say we monkey around.
But we're too busy singing,
to put anybody down.
We go wherever we want to,
Do what we like to do.
We don't have time to get restless,
There's always something new.
Hey, hey we're the Monkees,
and people say we monkey around.
But we're too busy singing,
to put anybody down.
We're just trying to be friendly,
Come watch us sing and play.
We're the young generation,
And we got something to say.
Hey, hey we're the Monkees,
You never know where we'll be found.
So you'd better get ready,
We may be comin to your town.
Hey, hey we're the Monkees,
and people say we monkey around.
But we're too busy singing,
to put anybody down.”
After I laughed at the first lines about getting funny looks from people, which I do so frequently these days with my swollen face and hospital mask, a few important questions and thoughts popped out at me.
• Am I too busy singing, worshipping, and praising God to put anybody down?
• As my Pastor has often said, “If you’re bored with the Christian life, you aren’t doing it right”. Am I wasting time being restless, or am I looking to that “something new”?
• Finally, am I sharing my testimony of God’s power and saving grace in my life, and the truth of Jesus with others in friendship and through the example of my life? Or am I too focused on other things to think about it, and possibly missing opportunities to be a witness for Christ? Am I sharing what God has uniquely given me to say?
These are not easy questions that good ole Davey Jones poses to me. I’m going to have to think hard and answer myself truthfully. And the truth is that I'm not doing all I could be...but God's grace is greater. So, my choice at this point is to either be content with that answer and continue as is, or choose to accept God's grace and commit to doing something about it.
What about you, how would you answer Davey?
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