Hopefully you read my previous post which linked you to Susan Boyle’s audition performance on the show Britain’s Got Talent. Millions of people have viewed the YouTube posting. Today I want to share portions of a wonderful thought provoking article about Susan Boyle, titled “The Beauty That Matters is Always on the Inside” written by Colette Douglas Home in The Herald web issue 3439. The following excerpts are Reproduced with the permission of the Herald & Times Group

This small, brave soul took her courage in her hands to pitch at her one hope of having her singing talent recognised, and was greeted with a communal sneer. Courage could so easily have failed her.

She lived with her parents in a four-bedroom council house and, when her father died a decade ago, she cared for her mother and sang in the church choir.

It was an unglamorous existence. She wasn’t the glamorous type – and being a carer isn’t a glamorous life, as the hundreds of thousands who do that most valuable of jobs will testify. Even those who start out with a beauty routine and an interest in clothes find themselves reverting to the practicality of a tracksuit and trainers. Fitness plans get interrupted and then abandoned. Weight creeps on. Carers don’t often get invited to sparkling dinner parties or glitzy receptions, so smart clothes rarely make it off the hanger.

Then, when a special occasion comes along, they might reach, as Susan did, for the frock they bought for a nephew’s wedding. They might, as she did, compound the felony of choosing a colour at odds with her skin tone and an unflattering shape with home-chopped hair, bushy eyebrows and a face without a hint of make-up. But it is often evidence of a life lived selflessly; of a person so focused on the needs of another that they have lost sight of themselves. Is that a cause for derision or a reason for congratulation? Would her time have been better spent slimming and exercising, plucking and waxing, bleaching and botoxing? Would that have made her voice any sweeter?

Susan Boyle’s mother encouraged her to sing. She wanted her to enter Britain’s Got Talent. But the shy Susan hasn’t been able to sing at all since her mother’s death two years ago. She wasn’t sure how her voice would emerge after so long a silence. Happily, it survived its rest.

If you’d like to read Ms. Home’s wonderful article go here

I hope Susan receives further opportunities to sing. She has earned them by virtue of her talent. But my question to us all is what talents have we not brought out to be seen for lack of opportunity or even more, the fear of ridicule? Perhaps the courage Susan displayed can spur each of us on to love and good deeds, knowing that what truly matters is the beauty on the inside
that is always seen by our audience of One.

I don’t know your habits, but I know mine: the ones I have and the ones that I am trying to form and reform.  One habit that I love is rising earlier than the rest of my family to enjoy the quiet in the house alone with my coffee and my Lord.  After daylight savings we sometimes walk through the garden looking at the new shoots of seedlings or the flowers in bud.  Hearing the birds waking up as the sun rises is so calming to my spirit.  The songs of the house finches who nest in our jasmine have such a lilting melody and I find myself imagining their conversation with their Creator as I eavesdrop.  

As I walk or stand staring at a bird or plant I allow my mind to flit like the birds; the needs of my family come to mind; my husband’s need for work, our oldest’s desire for a summer job keeping him away from home again, our youngest’s sports plans.  I think of the uncertainty that surrounds so many people’s lives in Sri Lanka, in Uganda and here in the States.  I allow my mind to rest in the knowledge that God is already in the unknown of my future and it is completely known to Him. I remind myself of the many times He has shown up in my present, proof enough of His promise to never leave me or forget me.

Giving my mind and heart time to bring thoughts and fears to the surface also gives the Lord space to show up in my present with His comforting Word reminding me that He leads me beside still waters.  I am able to hand over the fear of the unknown to His capable hands as He walks with me and talks with me and tells me I am His own….