In 1990, Bette Midler recorded the song, “From a Distance.” It won a Grammy Award for Song of the Year. The song is about seeing from a distance a society in which there is peace, concord, and security. To quote the song,
From a distance there is harmony
And it echoes through the land
It's the voice of hope, it's the voice of peace
It’s the voice of every man.
Later in the song, the lyrics are:
God is watching us,
God is watching us,
God is watching us from a distance
From a distance you look like my friend. . .
We all have enemies. Things have been said and done that create deep hurt and emotional distance. Sometimes we run from those hurts, sometimes we fight, but the fear, intimidation, divisions, altercations, and violence are never God’s will for us.
From the cross, God sees a new society where people love and care for each other, where no issue is so important that we malign each other, where offenses are forgiven and resentments melt into friendship.
We, the people of God, need to see things from a distance as well. Hebrews 11:1 in the New Testament says, “Faith is the reality of what we hope for, the proof of what we don’t see.” By and large, we don’t see the new society yet. There are still wars, violence and mayhem in the streets, our prisons are overflowing, and neighbors are still at odds with each other.
Nevertheless, by faith we can see a new day. From a distance, we hope for a redeemed world inhabited by people who know God and strive to live at peace with God and neighbor. We believe in the reality of what faith can see. We believe that the Kingdom of God can come upon the earth.
The song “From a Distance” was written in two hours by Julie Gold, but if you ask her, it took 30 years to write it. She had a vision from childhood of becoming a songwriter.
In 1978, at the age of 22, she pursued her dream and moved to New York City. There she lived in poverty, trying to make it in the arts world. She supported herself with odd jobs like selling vacuum cleaners.
Not able to make ends meet, in 1984 she took a full-time job as a secretary at HBO, which she says was a good decision, enabling her to modestly support herself and pursue her dreams in the evening.
Nevertheless, life was a daily struggle as she lived alone on a shoestring. In 1985, just before her 30th birthday she was in a funk, questioning her dreams, abilities, and lifestyle. Then her parents called and offered to give her the piano she had grown up playing.
She was barely able to squeeze it into her economy apartment, but when she did, the song, “From a Distance” flowed out of her, and she finished the composition in two hours. It did not solve all her problems, and it was five years before Bette Midler recorded it and it became a hit, but the song did renew her belief in herself and her vision for life.
God has big plans for us and for our lives. By faith, from a distance, we can see those plans and believe in them. God has big plans for our relationships, and if we take a step back and look through the eyes of God, we can see them and believe in them. By faith, those dreams can become reality. God has big plans for his world and the societies that exist herein.
What we see with our natural eyes is a world full of corruption, hunger, infidelity, betrayal, injustice, and inequality, but God sees with different eyes. It is why he entered our world in the person of Jesus Christ. He sees redemption, salvation, holiness, love, harmony, reconciliation, and peace.
We will all struggle with life, but we can have a new, redeemed vision of something that fulfills God’s plans.
Can you see it from a distance?
Dr. Dan Darby is a retired United Methodist pastor.
