One of my favorite stories was told to me by my friend Bob Goff. It’s a true story and it’s about a parade.
Bob lives in San Diego, and when his three children were young they were sitting around on New Years Day, bored. And Bob thought it was a crime anybody should be bored on New Years Day. (Let’s face it, unless you are a football fan, there’s not a whole lot to do.)
Bob asked the kids what they could do to honor the fact God gave them a day. And eventually Bob and his wife Maria, and their children, came up with the idea of a parade. So they set out to have a parade on their street. They went house to house telling their neighbors they were going to have a parade. And the neighbors must have indulged the children by saying they would watch. But the Goff’s had a better idea than just a parade people would watch. They decided nobody could watch the parade. They could only be in the parade.
And so a few neighbors joined in. The small parade marched from the end of the street to the Goff house, where they had a small cookout, if I remember correctly.
Now, more than ten years later, the New Years Day Parade is a tradition. Hundreds of people join in (nobody watches, everybody marches) and the day has not been boring since. Not only has it not been boring for the Goff family, it hasn’t been boring for hundreds of neighbors as well.
Each year the parade selects a Grand Marshal. The year Bob told me about the parade, the Grand Marshal was the mailman, who marched in front of the crowd throwing letters into the air. And each year a New-Years Day Queen is selected, sometimes from the local retirement center (the women in the picture below look way too young.) And the Queen gives a speech, and there is an annual Queen’s brunch at the San Diego Yacht Club.
People on Bob’s street know each other better because of the parade. The women in the Queen’s court feel honored, too. And the children grow up thinking New Years Day is a special celebration honoring a day, the miracle of a day.
It strikes me as I retell the story how wonderful it is God gave us time. By that I mean He has made us characters in a grand epic. The epic is meaningful, but there are dark forces trying to convince us it is meaningless, worth nothing, and therefore boring. What I like about Bob’s story is that he and his family decided to fight back.
Bob’s story is one of the more delightful, inspiring stories I’ve heard. He and his family were bored, but they didn’t complain, they spoke something into nothing, created unity where there was separation, created fun where there was boredom.
I often find myself thinking complaints about life, about business or politics or relationships. Anymore, though, when I complain, I am starting to realize that, in part, every ounce of nothingness in life is my fault, because I always have the ability to speak something into it, to create a different reality. A theory that life is meaningless is just an excuse not to try. It’s safe. It’s risk free. It may end in ruin, but it is a ruin we can control, and we know with certainty what will happen. We will be bored. Or worse.
I’m reading Victor Frankl’s book, Man’s Search for Meaning, in which he recounts his experience in the concentration camps where he lost his mother and father and his wife. He argues that what kept people alive in spirit was their belief that life expected something of them, that life needed them to die with dignity, to play a role that would teach the world the important lesson of honor, and also of evil.
“We had to learn ourselves and, furthermore, we had to teach the despairing men, that it did not really matter what we expected from life, but that what life expected from us.”
I think what we need this year is a bit of courage to stand up to the dark forces that lie about life, that say life has no meaning, no beauty and no hope. There is always meaning, even in the darkest of hours. We can always speak something into the nothingness.
Here are some pics my friend Lindsey took from this year’s parade. Happy New Year everybody. Have fun speaking something into the nothingness, and redeeming the days!
Bob Goff and friend and balloons.
The New Years Day Parade
Queens of the New Years Day Parade
Lindsey Goff, a friend from the neighborhood and lots of balloons.
What an awesome idea !!!! Thanks for sharing. Happy New Year to you !
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How cute!! I love it.
Love the expression of Pure Joy on Bob’s face!
This made me smile……Thanks for sharing it.
I wonder if our whole society is built on this concept. Speaking something into nothing. A human has an idea and suddenly it is a way of life, until we have a million little ‘speaks’ integrated together and then, this is just how we live(the good and the bad). This totally makes no sense to anyone but me probably:) Good thing you’re the only one reading it
Tamra
Nashville, TN
I love this too. Amazing. My boss is a friend of Bob’s…and I hear the stories of this man who just dreams boldly and walks forward. I pray God will use my life in the same way.
Excellent! I think most of us are waiting for permission – I know I fall into that trap. We’re too bound up in this “command and control” world that says you must have permission to do anything. This happens not only in the business world, but also in the Church.
It’s time we realized that we all have permission to change things in our world.
Thanks for sharing this! I never thought of boredom and meaninglessness as the lies that they are, something you could speak a truth into. I have 5 kids and this challenges me to live differently and encourage them to fight the lies too, appreciating the gift of time.
this is a great post! thanks for sharing that story and the thoughts about courage and redemption.
I saw a link to this post from a tweet from @dcart. And how fortunate for me – as I had no idea I’d be entering the blog of the author of a book I read last year… To Own a Dragon.
Thanks for posting! I look forward to reading more!
[...] Don Miller: I often find myself thinking complaints about life, about business or politics or relationships. [...]
I actually think seeing life as meaningless is a good thing. Yes it has its bad points when the meanlessness defines your lifestyle, and you live hopelessly. But, when you see life as meaningless in the way Ecclesiastes put it, it has great purpose.
When life is meaningless no matter what you do, how much success or failure you incure, it really shows the equality of man. Whether you are a CEO of a big corperation, or a homeless man on the streets, in the end, we all face the ultimate outcome, we all die.
Is that sad? Yes maybe… but some believe in life after death, some believe in reincarnation, some believe we just decompose and turn into dirt. What ever the case might be, we still have a life before that moment in which we live. In that time we can live it happy, or we can live it sad. We can drink, have fun, party, and do what ever that makes us happy, because in the end, we face the same outcome.
The idea that life is meaningless is not to downplay life, or to simplify it with an explination, or to cause anxiotey, but rather to give each and everyone of us an empty canvas to paint any type of life we wish to have. This is your life, so live it!
Ecclesiastes 5:18-20
18 Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him—for this is his lot. 19 Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work—this is a gift of God. 20 He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart.
Ecclesiastes 9:7-10
7 Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favors what you do. 8 Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil. 9 Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun— all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun. 10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, [c] where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.
What a great story! And thanks for the reminder… our nothingness/boredom is only an idea away from being a remarkable memory.
I needed this!
Steven Malone: I’ve hard that the translation into English of the Hebrew word used in Ecclessiates is actually a rather poor one: Instead of “Meaningless” it should be something closer to “temporal” or “transitory” with perhaps a tinge of “mystery” thrown in.
I absolutely LOVE this and I so needed the reminder today! Thanks, Don!
hey don,
i was there this year with brandon heath. anyway, i have been traveling on the road for quite some time with that guy and we stayed with the goff’s over new years. wish you could have been there, it was a blasty blast! thank you for the story and photos!
joe.
Fantastic idea! Thanks for sharing this great story.
I am struck by the mailman throwing letters into the air. That sounds pretty unprofessional. He sounds like a really awful mailman.
What a great story, and so inspiring
Thank you for sharing this little vignette with us 
hey don!
Wow, that was one of the most inspiring blogs by you. Its like recurring message today, for me to keep going and accomplishing my goals. I’ve never thought of it that way you know, instead of us expecting something from life, life expects something from us. Thanks for that beautiful message. It makes me believe that life is not meaningless but that all I have to do is make it happen! I did that this year a little bit and this is just a boost to do it more! thanks and God bless you and may you have a wonderful year!
I love this approach & take on one’s day.
Very inspiring and uplifting to remember when faced with feeling lonely or just complacent.
Boredom is lame. haha.
Beautiful, brother. Just beautiful.
This is awesome. I think the ability to pull strangers together into a community is a special gift.
Thanks for this great story. People that do things like this are so inspiring and encouraging.
Dear Don,
My name is Hyeon Chul Cho(Mr. Cho).
This is Wisdomhouse Publishing House in Seoul of Korea. (We have contracted your book Jazz Notes through Thomas Nelson.)
I don’t know your email and I wrote to you in this page. I apologized to you.
Now I edit Korean version of Jazz Notes.
Korean version will be published in end of this month.
2 Years ago, I read your work Blue Like Jazz and it was very exiting for me and Korean readers. You had awaken our inner voice and contacting with God honestly. We were favorably impressed by BLJ. Your work is revolutionary. Because many of Korean Church are so conservative. So, your Korean fans are longing for your another book. ^^*
Now I consider how Jazz Notes to show Korean readers’ hand and to Know them Korean version of Jazz Notes is differant with BLJ. So I request to you and want for your help. for example, Preface for Korean readers and some text for Korean version.
If it possible, please would you help me and email to me?
My email is booksharer@live.co.kr or booksharer@naver.com.
Thank you very much. ^^*
[...] we can control, and we know with certainty what will happen. We will be bored. Or worse.” [Don Miller, via [...]
=)
I flippin love it. This should the be prototype, or at the very least an example, for what pastors and church leaders should be striving for when they talk about community. Not bible studies at their church (which are imporant and have their place.) This takes normal everyday people, who happen to follow Jesus and places them right in the middle of life with everyone else. Seems to me that’s where Jesus would be.
SOmeone just posted Frankl on their blog today, or facebook. That is one of the best books I ever read. Happy New Year Don! I’ll be in pdx in april. Let’s throw a parade down to the health food store
Serendipitous. It was on my friend Sally’s Blog today:
http://sallylloyd-jones.blogspot.com/2009/01/your-mission-should-you-choose-to.html
“Everyone has their own specific vocation or mission in life …. Therein we cannot be replaced, nor can our lives be repeated. Thus, everyone’s task is as unique as their specific opportunity to implement it.”
Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search For Meaning
My problem tends to be a lack of creativity. I love the idea of speaking nothing into something but it’s like I need a list of ideas to choose from. Maybe you could write a list of parade-like ideas for us unimaginatives?
Well, I am at least inspired to try. And maybe that awareness will be enough. Most likely I’m lazy rather than unimaginitive. Thanks for the story and perspective.
All of the burdens we bear in this life teach us that the only thing that makes sense is finding joy in the moments, seeing things and people with wonder-filled eyes and hearts of love-moments brought to us by the one who gave his all. We all need to walk in the parade. Thanks for the post.
I loved hearing about this at the Bloodwater Mission/Sarah Groves concert in Tyler, TX, and how cool to see pics!
[...] you’re especially not sure what to do with your weekend, find some inspiration in this post from Donald Miller. For a laugh, watch a video about his puppy [...]
You have no idea how powerfully those words just hit me: “speak something into nothing.” I too grew up without a father and I am guilty of having allowed that to shape my life. How amazing the idea of speaking something into the void of nothing and realizing the Great Hope.
[...] you’re especially not sure what to do with your weekend, find some inspiration in this post from Donald Miller. For a laugh, watch a video about his puppy [...]
what a great story!