Susan Boyle

I don't watch reality shows, but somebody sent me the link of Susan Boyle http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY It is a simple story reminiscent of Paul Potts, both of whom lived in complete obscurity for years with an exceptional God-given talent. It has received more than 3 million hits since Saturday on Youtube. People love an underdog making good, but this story is more than that. My mother once remarked that it sometimes costs more to live for someone than to die for them. I don't know what experience in her life informed that wisdom, but I must remember to ask her one day. It is the story of so many people whose genius for whatever reason, is never revealed. I don't think it is always and only a result of life and circumstance, but a measure of the sacrifice that people make for love - the brilliant scientist mother or businesswoman who sacrifices the opportunity of a scholarship or promotion to look after a disabled child. Yes, the choice reveals the ultimacy of love, but somehow one cannot but mourn her very real loss. I don't think it undermines the ideal that love ought to be primary. I think it demonstrates the very real cost and depth of what sacrificial, selfless love entails. It is no less heroic an act than that of a martyr because it is the laying down of one's life for another. We are right to mourn the loss on her behalf as much as we are grateful on the child's behalf for her having made it. Nick Williams wrote in his book, 'The work we were born to do':
‘The wonder of life is that all souls enjoy different things, some enjoy numbers, others nature, some offices, others open air, some are creative, others logical. The only true problem is that we don’t always do what we really enjoy; we don’t identify and use our gifts and talents and so we become square pegs in round holes. Each of us is a unique expression of life, with God-given gifts and talents, each able to do things in ways that no one else can. Each of us has a song to sing, a gift to give. That calling has been placed in our heart, and it will never be lost. The greatest sadness of life would be to die with that song still in us our gifts not found or expressed.’