reaching | on my mind

There's a time I can recall –

four years old and three feet tall –

trying to touch the stars and the cookie jar,

and both were out of reach.

And later on in my high school,

it seemed to me a little cruel,

how the right words to say always seemed to stay –

just out of reach.

Well, I should not have thought it strange

that growing causes growing pains.

'Cause the more we learn, the more we know,

we don't know anything.

But still it seems a tragic fate –

living with this quiet ache.

The constant strain for what remains –
just out of reach.

We are reaching for the future.

We are reaching for the past.

And no matter what we have

we reach for more.

We are desperate to discover,

what is just beyond our grasp.

But maybe that's what heaven is for.

There are times I can't forget –
dressed up in my Sunday best –
trying not to squirm and to maybe learn,

a bit of what the teacher would teach.

And later lying in the dark –
I felt a stirring in my heart.

And though I longed to see what could not be seen –
I still believed.

I guess I shouldn't think it odd,

until we see the face of God.

The yearning deep within us tells us

there's more to come.

So when we taste of the divine,

it leaves us hungry every time –

for one more taste of what awaits

when heaven's gates are reached.

We are reaching for the future.

We are reaching for the past.

And no matter what we have

we reach for more.

We are desperate to discover,

what is just beyond our grasp.

But maybe that's what heaven is for.

I believe
that's what heaven is for.

There's a time I can recall –

four years old and three feet tall –

trying to touch the stars and the cookie jar.

And both were out of reach.

Lyrics: Reaching; Carolyn Arends