By Akin OjumuMay 6, 2009
By now, you must have heard of Susan Boyle. That 48 year old singing sensation, from Blackburn, Scotland, who wowed the judges while auditioning on the Britain’s Got Talent Show – yeah even the acerbic Simon Cowell.
Ms Boyle doesn’t look like much; she is fat and frumpy, frizzy-haired and squarely shaped. The youngest of nine children, Susan is a shy and solitary nobody, who lives alone with her cat. She has never gone out on a date, and never ever been kissed…….well almost never been. She is the type we walk by on the streets, but never take any notice she is there……..as soon as she registers on the mind, she is immediately confined to the trash bin of inconsequential beings; deleted permanently from the temporary file of the memory hard drive.
But that would change the day she opened her mouth, to let out that beautiful voice of hers, in the process stunning a snickering world, and knocking the smirk off our cynical faces. And her life has never been the same ever since.
Modern society is too quick to judge people on their appearances," Susan says. "There is not much you can do about it; it is the way they think; it is the way they are. But maybe this could teach them a lesson, or set an example."
Scattered all over the landfills of life, are books that were never written, messages never preached, and…..almost certainly…..souls never saved. Broken dreams, unfulfilled potentials, unused talents, and unclaimed promises, lay waste among the rubbles – victims of man’s icy heart and vitriolic tongue.
If you care to look, you will find a Susan Boyle living in your own neck of the woods. It is that child, who at 3rd Grade, still struggles with the alphabets, while his younger sibling, in kindergarten, is already able to write love letters to their parents. Susan Boyle is the domestic help, sent by her parents from the village to become a hewer of wood and drawer of water in our homes. He is the brother in church who has asked for a loan in order to pay his rent. And she is also that sister, with thick tribal marks etched on both her cheeks, who at 35, is yet to find a man she can call her own.
From the beginning of time, men have fawned over the naturally endowed: the comely, the hairy, the strong, and the wealthy have often been regarded as the greatest of all. The poor, the weak, and the ugly, on the other hand, have not fared so well; they’ve been despised, shunned, and scorned since God knows when.
Nimrod was the first to be a mighty one in the earth (Genesis 10:8). Saul was the most handsome man in Israel – head and shoulders taller than anyone else in the land (1 Samuel 9:2). And then there was Samuel who took one look at Eliab, Jesse’s first son, and thought, “Surely this is the Lord’s anointed!” But the Lord said to him, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:6-7).
In our own generation – the Gen X universe that we live in – all that glitters is considered gold and the glamorous things of this life are celebrated beyond measure. If you are fat and flabby in this world you’ve got yourself to blame, but for those who are lean and slim, you know no shame at all. The eloquent preacher, with the gift of oratory and the theatrics of a used car salesman, draws the largest crowd of all. However one that is slow of speech and slow tongue, like Moses, leads but no one follows.
It is the way of our world and we behold it daily on our TV screen – the burning of incense to the idol of glitz, style and sophistication. It is a world where drabness, dullness, and plainness have no place at all – or it is at best barely tolerated.
“Yet we all possess this precious treasure in frail, human vessels that the grandeur and exceeding greatness of the power may be shown to be from God and not from ourselves.” 2 Corinthians 4:7 Amplified Version.
By sheer act of defiance, and a stubbornness that could only have come from on high, Susan Boyle stepped out of the shadows of obscurity, to teach the world a thing or two about meekness, and respect for the gift in each and everyone of God’s creation. She subjected herself to ridicule, and the offensive attitude of the whole wide world, just to prove the point, that we all are beautiful inside.
Ms Boyle doesn’t look like much; she is fat and frumpy, frizzy-haired and squarely shaped. The youngest of nine children, Susan is a shy and solitary nobody, who lives alone with her cat. She has never gone out on a date, and never ever been kissed…….well almost never been. She is the type we walk by on the streets, but never take any notice she is there……..as soon as she registers on the mind, she is immediately confined to the trash bin of inconsequential beings; deleted permanently from the temporary file of the memory hard drive.
But that would change the day she opened her mouth, to let out that beautiful voice of hers, in the process stunning a snickering world, and knocking the smirk off our cynical faces. And her life has never been the same ever since.
Modern society is too quick to judge people on their appearances," Susan says. "There is not much you can do about it; it is the way they think; it is the way they are. But maybe this could teach them a lesson, or set an example."
Scattered all over the landfills of life, are books that were never written, messages never preached, and…..almost certainly…..souls never saved. Broken dreams, unfulfilled potentials, unused talents, and unclaimed promises, lay waste among the rubbles – victims of man’s icy heart and vitriolic tongue.
If you care to look, you will find a Susan Boyle living in your own neck of the woods. It is that child, who at 3rd Grade, still struggles with the alphabets, while his younger sibling, in kindergarten, is already able to write love letters to their parents. Susan Boyle is the domestic help, sent by her parents from the village to become a hewer of wood and drawer of water in our homes. He is the brother in church who has asked for a loan in order to pay his rent. And she is also that sister, with thick tribal marks etched on both her cheeks, who at 35, is yet to find a man she can call her own.
From the beginning of time, men have fawned over the naturally endowed: the comely, the hairy, the strong, and the wealthy have often been regarded as the greatest of all. The poor, the weak, and the ugly, on the other hand, have not fared so well; they’ve been despised, shunned, and scorned since God knows when.
Nimrod was the first to be a mighty one in the earth (Genesis 10:8). Saul was the most handsome man in Israel – head and shoulders taller than anyone else in the land (1 Samuel 9:2). And then there was Samuel who took one look at Eliab, Jesse’s first son, and thought, “Surely this is the Lord’s anointed!” But the Lord said to him, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:6-7).
In our own generation – the Gen X universe that we live in – all that glitters is considered gold and the glamorous things of this life are celebrated beyond measure. If you are fat and flabby in this world you’ve got yourself to blame, but for those who are lean and slim, you know no shame at all. The eloquent preacher, with the gift of oratory and the theatrics of a used car salesman, draws the largest crowd of all. However one that is slow of speech and slow tongue, like Moses, leads but no one follows.
It is the way of our world and we behold it daily on our TV screen – the burning of incense to the idol of glitz, style and sophistication. It is a world where drabness, dullness, and plainness have no place at all – or it is at best barely tolerated.
“Yet we all possess this precious treasure in frail, human vessels that the grandeur and exceeding greatness of the power may be shown to be from God and not from ourselves.” 2 Corinthians 4:7 Amplified Version.
By sheer act of defiance, and a stubbornness that could only have come from on high, Susan Boyle stepped out of the shadows of obscurity, to teach the world a thing or two about meekness, and respect for the gift in each and everyone of God’s creation. She subjected herself to ridicule, and the offensive attitude of the whole wide world, just to prove the point, that we all are beautiful inside.
Do not let any man despise your youth, the scriptures say.
2 comments:
Very true. Alot of us would have missed potiential destiny helpers,business partners,good husband,virtuous wife,etc. Just because we can not see beyond our noses. This is just what I do all day....forming my own opinion about people that have never said a word to me. Lord have mercy!
"...that sister, with thick tribal marks etched on both her cheeks..."
this really cracked me up.....nice article...
T.O. Baltimore
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