Life is a musical and everyone's a star

By  Catherine Richard, Youth Speak News
  • May 14, 2010
About a month ago, my little sister Anna found out that she got the leading role in the musical Annie. Her initial reaction? At first, Anna said nothing, then she screamed (with joy), and then she ran to every bedroom in the house — it was seven o’clock in the morning — and told everybody what happened.

Her reaction was really quite commonplace for a 10-year-old — natural, actually. But as ordinary as it may have seemed, Anna hit on a life-truth that day. I think Shakespeare alluded to it when he penned the famous line, “All the world’s a stage...”


Did it ever occur to you that life is a lot like a musical? First off, when God was arranging your life, He chose you to play the lead part. You may be shocked, but it’s true — you are the star in Justin, or Sabrina, or Chelsea, or Quinn, or whatever your name is.

A musical has songs displaying a character’s emotions in each part of a story. In life, I think each prayer is like a song. Sometimes the prayer is a love song, like Tony’s tender-hearted “Maria” in West Side Story.

Sometimes the prayer is one of misunderstanding, kind of like Eliza Doolittle’s humorous “Just You Wait!” from My Fair Lady. Sometimes prayer, like music, is the only way to speak our sorrow or express our joy.

So, yes, there are some ways that life is similar to a musical. The question for us then is: how are we living it?

When Anna found out she got the part, she could have freaked out and scrambled for a way to start learning the script early. But she didn’t. Instead, she sang, danced and was filled with joy. She got the CD out of the library and sang along with all the songs. Over and over, with wide eyes and in a breathless voice she said, “I can’t believe they picked me!”

Friend, YOU have been selected to play the lead part in your life. God is the director and our friends and family help provide the soundtrack, but you are the one God chose to play this part.

What are you going to do? Will you pitch into a state of high worry and madly try to figure out your part as quick as possible? Will you sit in a state of unbelief and try to find someone else, someone “better” to take your part? Or will you do as a little 10-year-old did and simply bask in the joy of being chosen? As breathless and wide-eyed as it may make you feel, the truth is as real as the rain falling outside my window — God chose you.

Sometimes, it seems like God changes the script when we least expect it. But rest assured, even when you aren’t expecting it, He is. And whenever you feel the need to sit down or lean against something in life, God will be there, 100 per cent of the time.

Sing your songs of prayer to Him in times of joy, sorrow, need and plenty — He will always be there, waiting with two thumbs up, for you.

(Richard, 15, is a Grade 11 homeschooled student from Winnipeg.)

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