I was introduced to the musical Les Mis about 15 years ago.
It aired on PBS. I fell in love. Went out & bought the CDs, & I've been performing it {as a one woman show} ever since.
It is, by a long shot, my favorite musical evah!
Phantom, Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, Cats, High School Musical........... they just don't even come close.
It is a PoWeRfUl story of redemption.
When I knew that Les Mis, the musical, was coming to the big screen. I was ecstatic!!! Knew that my life would be incomplete if I didn't see it. A few days after Christmas, my best friend & I went to see the movie.
It was her first experience with Les Mis, so everything was new to her. She loved it!
I, in stark contrast, sang every word of every song --- in a British accent, no less! The end result was still the same. I loved it!
The richness of joy & pain, life & death, forgiveness & redemption playing out on that giant screen in vivid color & larger-than-life characters. The music pulsing through my veins.
Like the crazed-Mommy-hormone-woman I've morphed into, I fully expected to bawl out my eyes, throughout the entirety of the movie.
Surprisingly, I did not!!!
I maintained a respectable teary-eyed composure, only using my buttery, popcorn napkin to dab my baby blues once or twice. Until..............
Until Wolverine started singing to tiny, little Cosette.
Oh.My.Lands! Bless.My.Soul! Suddenly, it was I, and not Jean Valjean, sitting in that carriage taking my baby boy away from the orphanage singing to him lyrics very similar to the ones I was hearing. Words of how suddenly he has taken my heart captive, shown me a love unlike any other, renewed my hope, made me braver than I am. It was an emotional, unexpected moment for me.
{for the non-Les Mis junkies, this was a brand new song. written for the movie. words I had not sung & memorized & performed in my car & shower before. you can view the lyrics here.}
After I recovered, I started thinking of how remarkably Jean Valjean lived his life. His unjust past hardened his heart, yet he was touched by grace & redeemed by love........ the love of a forgiving, merciful priest, the love of the Redeemer, and the love of a child.
He was, by no means, a remarkable man, but he lived his life in a remarkable way.
Forever the narcissist, I couldn't avoid thinking of my own life.
Do I live my life remarkably?
I'm not, what I would call, a remarkable person.
I'm FAR too marred by past decisions & plagued with doubts & fears to be a truly remarkable person.
However, I yet believe that I can live my life remarkably.
So I find myself thinking what this looks like for me in 2013???
I nevah-evah make New Year's Resolutions, but in this new year I want to focus on living my life remarkably.
To remarkably influence & change & help & love & give grace to OTHERS.
To make known the remarkable glory of the Redeemer.
To enjoy the remarkable joys the Lord gives each day.
Maybe it looks like adopting a child with special needs.
Maybe it means planning a fun, memory-making road trip with my 2 favorite guys.
Maybe it means donating something from Sweet Georgia Sweet to a family trying to raise money for an adoption or a child with severe medical costs.
Maybe it means actually getting to know our neighbors.
Or making regular lunch dates for Walker & his grandparents.
Or surprising friends with a meal or baked goods or a free night of babysitting.
Hopefully, it means closer friendships, joy in life's tiny gifts, abounding thankfulness, stretching & prodding & changing, a new family member {or at least strides in that direction}, and a new nearness with my Redeemer.
Wanna join me?
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