[from the 1974 Christian musical, Song of Plenty]
Monologue Nine:
GIRL (continuing letter). . .
My life was at a crossroads. A silly rhyme I once heard somewhere popped into my head:
A turtle passed me as I was walkin’ down life’s road.
I was really quite surprised ’cause, man, he was goin’ so slow.
But he was goin’ straight and I was movin’ from side to side.
When he got there first, I just fell down and broke my pride.
I smiled then–all over–for I realized just how much God had already changed me. My new friends were special to have shared their love so freely; I could never thank them for that. But I knew I would have to thank them by saying goodbye, and that was hard.
Song:
[You may listen to a performance recording of this song here and to the whole performance here.]
Goodbye, brothers and sisters in the Lord.
Faith declares us winners in a race that’s not yet done.
Distance doesn’t matter, but how and why we run.
God’s the one we look to; He’s the one our eyes are on.
His one way leads in separate ways through many different phases:
Through different paths and through different mazes to many different places.
Pray we may be faithful, that we won’t be misled.
God help us not look right or left, but only straight ahead.
We’ll unite with God in heaven as on earth we’ve all been one;
Let our greatest blessing be His softest said “Well done!”
Monologue Ten:
GIRL (concluding letter). . .
I knew something else: if I couldn’t even thank my friends, then the most impossible thing of all would be to try to thank God adequately for His love.
Mom and Dad, I’ve let God change and renew my life, and He told me to begin thanking Him by coming home to you.
(The sound of several knocks on the door.)
About this Song:
The apostle Paul had a lot to say about running races and keeping our eyes upon the prize.
Acts 20:24
However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.
1 Corinthians 9:24
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.
Galatians 2:2
I went in response to a revelation and, meeting privately with those esteemed as leaders, I presented to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. I wanted to be sure I was not running and had not been running my race in vain.
2 Timothy 4:7
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
Hebrews 12:1
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,
Those idea are reflected in the first stanza of this song.
The second stanza is a reminder that God’s children aren’t all alike. We have various interests and talents. But if we keep our eyes on God and use our talents in the way we feel God leading us to do, we are still part of that great race we call Life.
I don’t know about you, but my greatest desire is to enter heaven–that part is assured because of my faith in Jesus–and hear God saying, “Well done.” And not because I could ever be good enough to earn His love and approval, but because He knows I’ve done my best to keep my eyes on Him. Not perfectly, but always desiring to do better.
And so ends the Christian musical, Song of Plenty. I hope it’s entertained you and given you something to think and meditate about.
I write Christian novels as well as songs. The two most recent ones are shown below and their pictures are links to the Amazon pages. The eighteen-book picture is a link to my Amazon Author Page.
I’ll be back again next Wednesday. Please join me then. Better still, sign up to receive these weekly posts by email.
Best regards,
Roger
Links you might be interested in:
As I Come Singing. . . 