I recently saw a production of The Jersey Boys and in the final section, Frankie Valli reflects on his favorite part, or “high point,” of the journey. He doesn’t name the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, or all the Gold Records, or fame and fortune. He goes back to the time when the Four Seasons first sang together under a streetlight in Belleville, NJ. The feeling that everything was right. When he knew at the onset, they had caught lightning in a bottle.
“It was all great. But four guys under a streetlamp, when it was all still ahead of us, first time we made that sound – our sound – when everything dropped away and all there was was the music, that was the best”.
“The start of something great” is when we are aware of being at the inception of a remarkable journey, the dawn of a significant achievement, or the foundation for something extraordinary. It also reminded me of the line from Hamilton, when Alexander Hamilton notes, what are the odds, God would put us all in one spot.
I have had this feeling a few times in my life – in August 2012 coaching high school football with an incredible group of men and players and we made it to the State Seni-finals; in August 1981 playing college football during the drudgery of two-a-days when we ended the season ranked 8th in the nation; in 1978 when a bunch of high school guys connected for the very first time, guys that are dear friends to this day; and most notably on November 6, 1982 walking back to my college fraternity after a first date with my now wife.
“Start of Something Good” is a song by Chris Daughtry. Daughtry said the concept is he is observing a young couple falling in love and he’s playing their theme song.
You never know when you’re gonna meet someone
And your whole wide world, in a moment, comes undone
Sometimes these first key moments overwhelm us, like my first date experience. Most of the time we need to be intentional and mindful as well as present in the moment. Sitting around the high school football coaches’ office discussing not only techniques, tactics, and strategies – but also values and ethics gave me the insight this was something special.
A visionary, inventor, and successful entrepreneur, King Camp Gillette turned his ‘eureka’ moment of a disposable razor blade into a million-dollar business while never being dissuaded by negative comments. He expressed his joy, at the start, by writing to his wife: “I have got it; our fortune is made.”
Bear Grylls knew who he was and what he wanted to become from the start. He felt strongly that his ‘grit’ would be the difference. Grylls second attempt to join the British Special Forces (he failed the first time), included a grueling, nonstop hike. At the end, there was a promised convoy to take them home and an acceptance into the organization. When the convoy drove off unexpectedly, just as he was a few steps away, Grylls didn’t flinch. Instead, he chose to keep marching because he had resolved to not give up. In the end, Grylls only had to take a few more steps before he passed and was offered the ride. It was the willingness to keep going, the grit, that counted.
How do we create the environment for these positive experiences or promising ideas to begin? We spend time with people who aspire to be more, we read books that challenge our thinking, we reflect on where God wants us to be or go next. We need to see the beauty and blessings in what He has provided; to step into the unique calling that He has placed on our lives.
God called David before he had done anything, and he refused to be defined by the fears and limitations of others. His slaying of Goliath was his ‘new beginning.’ The start of something great was David walking in the certainty of who God called him to be.
Isaiah 43:19: ” See, I am doing something new! Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? In the wilderness I make a way, in the wasteland, rivers.” This verse is a promise from God that He has something great in store for the future. The imagery of making ‘a way’ in the wilderness and rivers in the desert is a call to spiritual awareness and discernment.
The same weekend I saw Jersey Boys, the gospel at Mass was “The Call of Simon the Fisherman” from Luke (Chapter 5). This is where Jesus borrowed Peter’s boat to better preach to the gathering crowd. During this encounter, Jesus asks Peter to cast out his net again. The outcome has Peter awestruck and he moves from calling Jesus ‘Master’ to calling him ‘Lord.’ It is the start of the apostles fishing for men.
When are discerning the start of something great, then we need to begin and end with – “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” and “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
