Friday night after rehearsal, I found myself alone in the car for about ten minutes. It's amazing what ten minutes of silence can do for you. I started to pray because once again I had that lumpy throated experience thinking about the kids in our show...how amazing they are...and I wondered if they knew it.
I wanted to believe they did, but a word dropped into my heart. A word for them, but also, I think, for you.
Shine.
I started thinking about the youngest kids in our cast (age 8)...how easy it is to shine when you're that little. You don't know how NOT to shine, really. You're taught to "let your little light shine"...so you do.
And then you get older. And it gets more difficult. Hiding your light seems like less trouble. Not everyone is a fan of a well-lit person, you know.
People tell you you're not good enough or talented enough or thin enough or pretty enough. You're the wrong height or weight or race.
And you start to believe them...who are you to think you could shine? What do you really have to offer? You're ridiculous for even thinking it.
And your light flickers like the candle at the end of its wick.
Looking out over a sea of youth, there's nothing I want to convey more than the fact that the reason other people try to put your light out so theirs will appear brighter. There's nothing I want to teach more than the fact that you were born to shine.
You've been given gifts that the world needs...if you hide them, the world misses out.
And I'm not talking about facial expressions on stage, I'm talking about something deeper. Way, deep down...that's where the power source is.
You will face adversity. We all do... the question is...what will you do with it?
You can shine.
What are you waiting for?
