Every day we use turns of phrase without a clue about their origin, or what they really mean.
‘Pie in the Sky’ has to me always meant something unrealistic, a dream unconnected to reality, unobtainable, and usually plain silly.
But how did I know that? The image of a pie in the sky doesn’t really make a lot of sense.
It turns out the origin is in a song written by a man called Joe Hill, a Swedish immigrant in the US in the early 20th century who was union man.
He got really upset with the Salvation Army for telling poor and starving workers to have faith in God and Heaven and donate money to the church and not worry about the practicality of getting food.
This angered Hill, and he wrote this song, The Preacher and the Slave:
Long-haired preachers come out every night,
Try to tell you what’s wrong and what’s right;
But when asked how ’bout something to eat
They will answer with voices so sweet:
Try to tell you what’s wrong and what’s right;
But when asked how ’bout something to eat
They will answer with voices so sweet:
You will eat, bye and bye,
In that glorious land above the sky;
Work and pray, live on hay,
You’ll get pie in the sky when you die.
In that glorious land above the sky;
Work and pray, live on hay,
You’ll get pie in the sky when you die.
Now I am not sure whether the Salvation Army heeded his song, but today they do amazing work to feed, clothe and house the poor.
The lesson to me is stark. If you have a lofty vision, a vision that can seem beyond reach, there must be ways that people can see it being a reality, and it must have some relevance to them. It needs practical application here and now and to meet people’s needs. Bob Norton has devised a Vision Pie about the 11 required elements of a successful vision.
In my upcoming book, Love Your Brother from Another Mother, I cover how and why we must show the pathway from Pie in the Sky to Pie in Your Mouth.