A hero of support

I know, I know.

I've been speaking about moving to the center of our lives and being the hero.

But hear me out....

Remember the Easter season play my family and I auditioned for back in November?

Well, the performances were last weekend. And some really positive things happened. Our family drew closer together and made new friends. Miranda had fun, David became more interested in singing, and my husband had some very compelling moments in his role as Peter the Apostle.

There was, however, a lesson waiting in the wings.

Well -- a lesson waiting to be re-learned.

Not only did I not have a leading role, unlike many of the women who graciously agreed to be in the ensemble their superior ability notwithstanding, I was lucky to even be in the ensemble.

My brain knew all of this, but because I wanted so badly to be a hero in this particular storyline, I found myself feeling resentful on more than one occasion.

Yup. That's right. Resentful.

Which got me to thinking.

I wanted a bigger part, but who didn't? And if I always have a big part, and so does everyone else, then what?

We have YouTube which caters to a growing societal need to always be front and center.

And if we live in a YouTube world where everyone is the lead which, in the case of last week's play were the biblical Joseph and Mary, who plays the shepherds? The angels? The musical instruments? The audience?

So, yes, we need to move to the center of our lives, and be the hero of our story. But...

...sometimes we need to be the hero of support, the Sam Gamgee from The Lord of the Rings. Or an angel in the choir. Or a member of the audience. Or maybe even Joseph.

The rub is that we can only do this when we feel that there is enough for us. Because when there is enough, there is bounty, and we will give our support and encouragement to others.

I wish I had re-learned this lesson before the actual performances. Because as soon as I understood that there is enough for me -- maybe not in this play, but in my life generally -- I was able to become a hero of support, one that fully participated and encouraged others.

And it felt good.

Really good.

Comments

[Vanessa Quigley]

I love this post Whitney because I feel like this is really at the heart of the matter.
I love that your family participated and I really wish I could've been there to see the show.