I’m a bit of a mess today, so please take that into account as you read this week’s newsletter. We just finished an emotional weekend, taking in four performances of our son’s lead role in his school musical, Big Fish. Now I know I’m a biased dad, but we were not at all prepared for what we just saw. I wish I could share video with you (stupid copyright laws).
For the last three months, every time we saw the drama director she would smile and say “your son is going to blow you away as Edward Bloom, and you’re definitely going to cry.” What she should’ve said was “you’re going to weep nearly uncontrollably for three straight days.” We are still trying to get our bearings. But this newsletter isn’t about dad-bragging.
I’m pretty sure this musical would have left me a blubbering mess even if my son wasn’t carrying the lead role. It keys on so many of our innate human emotions, and then adds a musical score that eliminates any hope you have of keeping it together. It’s a story of fathers and sons, of untimely death, and of that deep desire we all carry to live a story that really matters.
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There’s a line in the closing song that gets me every time. I’m having a hard time holding back tears as I type they lyrics here:
I know my life was small,
I know that I pretended that I knew it all.
But when you tell my story,
And I hope somebody does,
Remember me as something bigger than I was
(I hope no one walks past my office right now).
We all long to live a story that matters, but statistics say that most of us feel like we’re living rather small and mundane lives. What legacy are we leaving? Are we really making anything meaningful with the days we have here? Will anyone remember us when we’re gone?
There are so many lessons to carry away from the storyline of Big Fish, but the thought that kept hitting me as I watched it unfold is how grateful I am that Jesus invites us into an endlessly meaningful Story so much bigger than our own. We are not main characters in a story we are writing about ourselves. We are beloved members of the supporting cast in a divine redemptive narrative that the Creator of the Universe has been unfolding since the beginning of time. We don’t have to spend our days trying to matter because, in Christ, our stories already carry all the meaning and purpose they were designed for.
There is no small life that spends its days making much of Jesus. And I promise He will always remember you.
Accelerating the Great Commission through the Marketplace,
Erik Cooper | The Stone Table
