Dedicated to Abigail Brooke S. on the occasion of her Baby Dedication Day
Abigail is so small
But God has a plan for her
And we know
That she will go far
Abby Brooke you are
So full of promise and
God’s everlasting
Love, you are so beautiful.
Abby there’s so much time for you
Time to live and time to choose
Abby, if I only had one wish for you
Is to let God lead in your daily walk
She’s just a little baby
But with a soul
And the light of God shining through
In the smile on her face
So much hope for a child
The world is big
Opportunities abounding
Changing the years of her life
Abby there’s so much time for you
Time to live and time to choose your way
With Him as your guide
Abby, we all pray for you
Abby, if I only had one wish for you
Is to let God lead in your daily walk
Baby time goes by
Suddenly you rise
Within the blink of an eye
Childhood is gone
The Son reigns on high
You’re moving on
She’s sleeping for a moment
Sliding my finger down her face
Just thinking
Counting the ways God’s blessed you
Abby there’s still time for you
Abby you should feel it too
Abby you are on your way
Every day is a new day
Abby there’s so much time for you
Time to live and time to choose
Abby, if I only had one wish for you
Is to let God lead in your daily walk
(C) 2004 Rodney Keith Richardson & Stephanie Wiedman
I had some time today to listen to the soundtrack of one of my favorite musicals – A Chorus Line – which I saw a few weeks back again (brilliantly done by Lyric Theater, of course). The tunes ala Edward Kleban and Marvin Hamlisch are fun to sing along with and engaging. If you have ever done any kind of stage performing, then you will immediately identify with this touching, and many times moving, portrayal of a chorus line dance audition.
Seeing the play and then listening to the soundtrack all over again today reminded me of something very important to artists and performers; we express our ART based on the people and events that have influenced us over the course of our lives and careers. Sometimes those influences are good ones, many times they are bad. But it doesn’t change the fact that were are “made-up” artistically and emotionally of many, many different people and events.
I have to laugh – this is why artists are made fun of so many times as quirky or odd or different. It’s not that we’ve had any more unusual influences in our lives compared to others. It’s that we don’t hide all that stuff inside of us but we let it out in our expression – sometimes even being inspired by that same “stuff.” So you could say as a performer, I’m performing as a hundred or so mini-performers, all with different styles and tastes and . . . quirkiness. No wonder we come off as different sometimes.
Even non-performing people experience this.
What do you do in your job?
How do you handle relationships?
What makes you happy, or sad, or easy to get along with or difficult?
In all of these instances we respond to the stimuli around us based on the belief system we’ve been building on all of our lives (wow, I think I’ll start putting a PHD after my name after that sentence). People, events, mentors, relationships – all thrown into the mixing bowl we call our soul. What comes out can be a delicious cake or just a horrible mess or even somewhere in between. (Can you tell I’m on a diet – every analogy I make will reference food.)
The point is that we should take some time, all of us, performers or audience members, and examine . . . well simply put . . . how we got to be the person we are. Now I’m not asking you to go back-packing through Tibet to discover yourself. I’m asking you to get in front of a mirror if you have to, look deeply, you know, past that image in front of you, and look down deep inside of you and ask yourself, “How could all this be better?”
Then remember you can’t change the past, you can only make a difference going forward. And one more cliche – only you can make that difference. Don’t sit around all the time in a pity-party wishing your mommy and daddy would have loved you more and blaming everyone around you for all the “bad things” that happen to you. Stand up – man up – woman up and take those challenges head on. If you need more faith, then ask God for more faith. If you need more education, then go back to school. If you need some friends, then stop being cranky all the time and go make some friends. You get the idea – you’re in charge. So go do something already . . .
Here’s a couple of my favorite numbers from the musical, A Chorus Line. Watch the whole thing and enjoy!
What do you do when God stops caring?
When you sit alone in the dark crying,
Reaching out to nothing because
No one is there,
Nothing to touch,
Nothing to love,
Nothing to hope.
Where is God?
I don’t know – I don’t feel Him.
Rejected, unaccepted,
No happy ending.
Why do I feel so alone – so cold;
As if there were no love?
As if there were no one?
As if there were no God?
My soul hurts, my body aches
I am empty without life or breath.
I crawl on my belly
But You will not hear.
I flail at the darkness
But You do not care.
I am the biggest failure to ever exist.
I am the king disappointment
There is no other so despised.
My confession means nothing
My pain simply payment due.
Your regard completely callous
No forgiveness, no renew.
All I want is to feel You
Know that Your warmth is still there.
Just to have one simple, single prayer answered -
My God, let me know You are there.
Don’t put me away
Stop ignoring me
Stop rejecting me
Stop hating me
I have yet some little worth.
Why does my pain seem to make You so happy?
Why does my sorrow bring such joy?
Your chastisement or affliction
Or whatever You call it – make it stop!
Make the violence against me refrain.
Hold me, love me, forgive me, accept me
Just as I am – a reject, a loser, a failure.
But You’re supposed to love me in spite of it all, so -
Where are You?
Why do You make such a horrible exception for me?
No wonder we come off as different sometimes.
