Having been pretty much always as un-cool as I am now, I don’t know that much about the band, Oasis. However the other day, I heard an extraordinary interview with its former principle song writer, Noel Gallagher.

When asked about where his songs come from, he said,

‘I still believe that there’s just someone up there and they’re just dropping songs all over the place. And if I’m not ready to catch them, Chris Martin is getting them and Bono is getting them and they’ve had enough. … I do it everyday, you know what I mean? I’m there fishing in the river for the songs.’

I really loved that image of song-fishing; with its combination of intentionality and giftedness. The songs are just there, swimming around, waiting for someone to want them.

What do I want so much that I’d be willing to go fishing for each day?

We were caught up in the raw edge of human desire yesterday. We’d decided, as a family, to try our hand at selling some un-wanted things at a car boot sale. (Non-British friends, this is a bit like a yard sale, except it happens in a big field with lots of other people selling what can fit in their cars.)

We’d been warned about this by some friends, but the moment we parked and started unpacking things, we were pounced on by some pushy people who attempted to take things out of our hands, demanding to know if we had different kinds of toys for sale. Two women got into quite a loud argument about which one had asked us if we had any Lego first. All this at 7am.

People who want something badly enough don’t mind sniffing out the first-time car-boot sellers. They spend ages looking through old Match Attax folders, looking for rare cards. For some it’s a bit of a game, for others, it might be their livelihood, but you have to admire their desire and their dedication (if not their rudeness).

A book that I recently read, called ‘Woo’ by Morgan Schmidt, suggests that all of our good desires lead us to God. Our human hearts are made to long for the source of love, even if we don’t realise it. As St Augustine wrote, ‘our hearts are restless, until they can find rest in you’.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t go fishing enough. I don’t spend enough of my life waiting for the one who I really long for. Perhaps another thing that Noel Gallagher said about music could also be said about all of our God-given giftedness:

‘Music is a thing that changes people’s lives. It has the capacity to make young people’s lives better. You’ve got a duty to make music. If you can, you should.’

*This may only be available in the UK but if you’d like to listen to the interview yourself, you can at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b062hplj