What If (Lyric Video) - Jonathan Ogden
Do you ever just feel a little overwhelmed by the treadmill of modern life? From the moment you wake up you’re just faced with messages and ads and things that seem to pull you into a place of discontentment. For years I bought into the ideas that “when I get ___ I’ll be happy.” Constantly striving for something that felt just out of reach.
But I realised, even having the privilege to experience some of these things for myself, and to reach some of the goals I had set out, it never really tastes as sweet as you think it’s going to. I found myself just wanting the next goal, and the next, and the next. The more I questioned, the more people around me would say “you just need to do what makes you happy!” and that sounds really great on the surface, but what about when doing those things doesn’t make you happy?
For me, as a Christian, I have become familiar with a deeper ache. A longing for something eternal and transcendent that is beyond any earthly experience. A desire for the well that never runs dry and the living water that will finally quench the deepest thirst of my soul. After years of introspection and trying to ‘figure it out,’ I started thinking that maybe the goal posts have been wrong the whole time. Maybe life gets more beautiful and complete when we look beyond ourselves and our own desires. That’s what this song is about.
Listen to this song as part of the album, DAY:
slinky.to/day
Lyrics:
Early rise, grey skies
And I get out of bed
Quick scroll on my phone
Now it’s filling my head
So loud, “buy it now!”
Wonder if I’m enough?
Will I ever find peace?
Will I ever find love?
Get a dog, get a job
Maybe I’ll find the one
Buy a house, settle down
Get a place in the sun
Make a hit, get rich
Maybe move to Japan
If you just give me one more chance
Another night spending time
Chasing after the thrill
Overdrive in my mind
Wish that I could be still
What a waste, am I late?
Am I over the hill?
If I don’t find it now
Maybe I never will
No, when I’m liked
When I’m loved
I’ll be happy again
When I’m cool
When I’m skinny
When I’m fill in the blank
Maybe then in the end
I’ll be satisfied
I just need a little more time
But what if life is
About more than just my happiness?
And what if life is
Much more beautiful and infinite?
Another day, press start
Let’s do it again
Play the game
Nothing gained
If I lose or I win
I don’t want to waste my time
Never full, never satisfied
‘Cause when it’s all said and done
Will I carry the cost?
Will I feel that I still
Haven’t given enough?
When I wake from the dream will the morning come?
Will I dance in the light of the sun?
What if life is
About more than just my happiness?
And what if life is
Much more beautiful and infinite?
In the end
Getting what I want
Just leaves me wanting again
But beauty sings
It's calling through the window, beckoning
And someday I’ll enter in
What if life is
About more than just my happiness?
And what if life is
