{"id":2280,"date":"2023-01-12T08:36:24","date_gmt":"2023-01-12T13:36:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=2280"},"modified":"2023-01-12T08:36:24","modified_gmt":"2023-01-12T13:36:24","slug":"eyes-to-see","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/12\/eyes-to-see\/","title":{"rendered":"Eyes to See"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To listen to this reflection as a podcast,\u00a0<\/em>click here<\/a>.
\u00a0
On April 11, 2009, Susan Boyle appeared as contestant #43212 on Britain\u2019s Got Talent<\/em>.
\u00a0
Expectations were low.
\u00a0
She was a frumpy-looking, 47-year-old single woman from Scotland who had grown up with eight siblings and admitted she had never been kissed \u2013 not exactly the kind of person likely to give Taylor Swift a run for her money.\u00a0 When the show\u2019s chief judge, Simon Cowell, asked about her dream, Boyle declared she hoped to become a professional singer.\u00a0
\u00a0
Eyes rolled.\u00a0 This had all the makings of a sad spectacle.
\u00a0
And then she sang.\u00a0 Just in case you\u2019ve never seen the video, or haven\u2019t checked it out recently, or if you simply need an opportunity to feel tears welling up in the corners of your eyes, here\u2019s Susan Boyle\u2019s remarkable first appearance<\/a> before an audience.
\u00a0
Almost overnight she became a global sensation.\u00a0
\u00a0
During the past 14 years she has released eight albums, been awarded two honorary doctorates, received two Grammy nominations, toured the world, performed with her idol Elaine Paige, sung before the Queen, and set all-time records for the fastest-selling debut album.\u00a0 That collection of songs actually became 2009\u2019s best-selling album in the world<\/em>.\u00a0
\u00a0
Apparently she could give Taylor Swift a run for her money after all.
\u00a0
Fame hasn\u2019t changed Susan Boyle all that much.\u00a0 She\u2019s still single, although she did a bit of dating in 2014.\u00a0 She has acknowledged that she is on the Asperger\u2019s spectrum and has always felt relationally awkward.\u00a0 She continues to sing in her local Catholic parish choir and visits homebound church members on a regular basis. \u00a0Her benefit concerts have helped raise millions of pounds for charitable causes.
\u00a0
It seems fitting she chose to sing I Dreamed a Dream<\/em>, the show-stopping number from the musical Les Miserables<\/em> in which the character Fantine pours out the sheer sorrow of her broken life.
\u00a0
The final four lines are poignant:
\u00a0
I had a dream my life would be<\/em>
So different from this hell I\u2019m living.<\/em>
So different now, from what it seemed<\/em>
Now life has killed the dream I dreamed<\/em>
\u00a0
Sometimes our dreams seem crushed by life itself.\u00a0 Or dismissed by the eye rolls of people who haven\u2019t even had the chance to get to know us.
\u00a0
As you listen to Susan Boyle singing on TV for the first time, watch the judge\u2019s faces.\u00a0 Watch their eyes reveal that it\u2019s dawning on them that they were oh-so-wrong to have made pre-judgments about this woman.
\u00a0
In the words of Amanda Holden, one of the judges: \u201cI am so thrilled because I know that everybody was against you.\u00a0 I honestly think that we were all being very cynical \u2013 and I think that\u2019s the biggest wake-up call ever.\u201d
\u00a0
Paul says in Romans 14:4: \u201cWho are you to judge someone else\u2019s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.\u201d
\u00a0
Sometime in the next seven days, is it likely you\u2019ll be in the presence of someone who has a hidden talent, or a remarkable destiny, or a passionate heart for God, and you\u2019ve not yet had eyes to see it?
\u00a0
Count on it.
\u00a0
And by God\u2019s grace, maybe that can become a very big wake-up call.

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To listen to this reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here.\u00a0On April 11, 2009, Susan Boyle appeared as contestant #43212 on Britain\u2019s Got Talent.\u00a0Expectations were low.\u00a0She was a frumpy-looking, 47-year-old single woman from Scotland who had grown up with eight siblings and admitted she had never been kissed \u2013 not exactly the kind of person likely to give Taylor Swift a run… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2281,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[531],"class_list":["post-2280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-judging"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2280"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2282,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2280\/revisions\/2282"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}