no small parts

A couple of years ago I wrote a bucket list, I lost it so either I can find it or if I write a new one I’ll just add finding my old bucket list to the list. I just realized how stupid that idea is, so I’ll just tell you the story of what I did that I remembered being on my old list. (Finding a lost list is not bucket-list material. Ooh but finding a treasure map is. Or I could just watch National Treasure again, and do it vicariously through Nicholas Cage).

Anyway, I have always wanted to be in a Shakespearean play. Of course being the “star” of the show would be cool, but not having experience in “professional” acting wouldn’t help. Well, around November 2010, I got an e-mail advertising open auditions for a production of Much Ado About Nothing. I figured it wouldn’t harm to audition, the worst that could happen was being told no.

To my surprise, I actually got a part. Not a “huge” role, but as I like to remind myself, there are no small parts. (Really, there aren’t. Haven’t you seen shows where somebody just didn’t fit?) I was the second watchman, and was able to work with an amazing cast of actors and actresses, and I mustn’t forget the great production staff either. It was an amazing show, I got a good review (everyone did actually) and I got to check that one off my (lost) bucket list.

I also learned a great deal about myself and people, especially by being around people with a worldview different than my own. I learned that while I may be around people with different standards, I have no right to withhold respect from them. In conversation, most people involved in a vice would likely agree to the negative aspects of the activity. When it comes to speaking the truth to someone, it shouldn’t be about me being right, it should be me loving them so as I communicate the truth to them, they become right. The hard part as a Christian is letting go of the control over another person, and allowing God to do the work in their lives in His way, in His time and only being involved when He wants us to be.

Shakespeare never had throw-away characters; each one had a specific role in each play. I kinda tend to believe God has better vision for our lives, than Shakespeare did for mapping out plots. None of us are throw away creations; each of us has a purpose, and are important to God. The interaction we are allowed in another persons life should not be without impact or considered wasted. I am thankful for each person I have come in contact with; you are not an accident in any sense of the word. My personal ambition in life is to encourage everyone to be (not who I expect but) who God made them to be.

By the way, if you just thought “I’ve never really thought about who God made me to be,” that’s a start...