The Big Rock Candy Mountain

There is a song, written by a Harry McClintock, called “Big Rock Candy Mountain.” It is a song about a hobo's idea of paradise. The hobo, who has no responsibilities, no job, no cares at all, sings the song as he travels on his perpetual journey. The song peaked at number 1 on Billboard Music in 1939, and the lyrics are worth looking up. One verse goes like this:

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains
All the cops have wooden legs
And the bulldogs all have rubber teeth
And the hens lay soft-boiled eggs
The farmers' trees are full of fruit
And the barns are full of hay
Oh I'm bound to go
Where there ain't no snow
Where the rain don't fall
The winds don't blow
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains.

This song has an important message even today. The hobo lives his life as a wanderer, travelling from one stop to the next without cares or worries. He has no agenda, no deadlines, no commitments. We envy the simplicity of the hobo's life and the freedom he embraces. We might even wish on some level that we could somehow get that “perfect” life, or one like it. We search sometimes endlessly for our own Big Rock Candy Mountain. We try our hardest to get that life that we think can only be found there. We keep working towards that life. And, in the end, many are disappointed.
The reason so many of us don't get to that Big Rock Candy Mountain is because we are looking for it “out there” somewhere. Instead, we should be looking around us. The perfect life is right here and right now. We are blessed beyond all belief. As you sit in your seat reading this, look around and count the people in the room. Take a guess at how many are here. You are blessed to know each of those people. And they are blessed to know you. Now try to think how many people you know that aren't here. 50? 100? 500? More? Even more blessings.
Although many of us would likely not admit it, we are a lot like that hobo. We are searching for the Big Rock Candy Mountain where all the things we don't have can be found. We go through our lives searching for the “perfect” life, but not finding it. We expend so much energy working towards that perfect existence, that we fail to realize that we already have it....