I said today we could return to the topic of the Trinity unless something happened.
Well, it did.
I heard a program today talking about Susan Boyle, this lady who blew away an audience that was entirely cynical so I thought I’d go and give a lesson. Now I consider myself one with a tin ear and some of my favorite words to hear in church are “You may be seated.” Thus, I’m not expecting something. I figure I’ll listen and say “Eh. That was nice.” Then I’d go on with my day.
Well, if you’re like that, take a look and see what you think.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY
Something I love about this is that Susan Boyle is an underdog. Everyone I’ve shown this video to who hasn’t seen it has been entirely cynical just like the audience was. When you see it, they start rolling their eyes. It’s unbelievable it seems to think that this frumpy lady will actually have any musical talent at all.
Within 10 seconds of her singing, the tune had changed incredibly.
Soon, the mocking whistling was turned into whistling of cheers. Soon, the eyes were no longer rolling but were standing there mesmerized. Soon, the smiles were not smiles of playfully humoring Miss Boyle, but of intense delight at what was being witnessed before them.
Susan Boyle has blown a hole into the cynicism of our age. Everyone else in the world had been passing up this lady. Now I understand she sang karaoke at local bars and was singing in the church choir so her village knew about her talent, but was there any chance of her making it on a national scene? None at all. Take a look at her. You think she can do anything?
Well yes. Yes I do.
And I will confess I am quite sure I would have been just as cynical had I not known.
And I pause when I think about that to wonder what a crazy connection. Why is it I am thinking physical appearance somehow has something to do with musical talent?
How many people have we rejected? I emailed a friend of mine to tell him about this and he replied that he’d been doing Bible Studies and had just got to the passage where it talks about man looking on the outside but the Lord looks at the heart.
How many years has Susan Boyle been overlooked?
But notice what she says? She knows when she goes out onto that stage that she is going to rock that audience. At the same time, one sees a great humility in her. She is so stunned when she hears how much she is being praised and is hesitant to admit what Simon says that we all recognize, Susan Boyle is a little tiger.
I see Susan’s talent as also further evidence of objective beauty. Sorry to all you people out there who think beauty is in the eye of the beholder, or in this case, the ear. If you hear this and do not think that her singing is beautiful, you are wrong. Yes. There is truth content to statements about beauty and the audience knew it. This has been one of the most hit YouTube videos and as I was on Facebook today, I saw that she already had 89,000+ fans. I wouldn’t be surprised if by now that number is past 100,000.
Because everyone knows beauty when they see it even if they can’t define it.
Susan Boyle reminds me of the transcendent. She enables me to reach a place outside myself it seems. While I described myself as having a tin ear, I get near to teary-eyed listening to this lady sing. Something about her moves me dearly.
In calling to describe it to my mother who had seen her on some of the TV programs, she said something that I had considered. I can probably get great joy out of this lady because like many of you out there, I can relate to her.
Many of us are seen as the underdogs in this world. When I was preparing to go off to Bible College, a group was funding me for disability and was telling me to not go into ministry. I could not handle preaching. I wish they had been there when I did my senior sermon before my entire student body. Today, I am where I am not because of a disability, but in spite of it. I have worked and read and studied to be where I am.
Yet I know what it’s like to be overlooked as I worked at a job for over three years I didn’t like with people just assuming less of me when they saw me. Finally, I have a chance and I’m somewhere where my ability is being recognized. People judged by appearance alone when appearance had nothing to do with my ability. I’m suspecting my story can be quite similar to many of your stories.
For all of us who go on in spite of the opposition reaching for our dreams, Susan Boyle is an inspiration. I thank God that there are women out there like that who reach for their dreams and inspire the rest of us to do so.
Susan Boyle. I don’t know if you’ll ever read this. I’d be honored if you did. Let me say this to you. May God richly bless you in your continuing career. You have been a voice for many of us as well in our own paths. Since you sing at church, I assume you’re a Christian, and I wonder what it will be like after this life to get to hear that beautiful voice of yours in the heavenlies. We may not be able to hear that yet, but you can rest assured your performance on “Britain’s Got Talent” brought some of Heaven to us.
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