Amazing Grace

A long time ago, when I was in high school my church chose to do a musical called HiTops for our drama team. In jr.high I was a part of a smaller team but high school's team was much larger. HiTops was set in your average high school except 3 angels were sent to be students and help out. I can't recall all the plot because my scenes primarily were with one other person; I wasn't in many "all cast" scenes. Originally I was cast as the valley girl and I wanted to be the nerd, so my friend and I switched. I'm confident I got the better role because this nerd, named, Grace, "Amazing Grace" was really quite a character! I fell in love with her. Our drama leader wasn't too thrilled with our switching roles but once he saw both of us play the part, he was fine with it. At one point my friend wanted her nerd role back because they cut nearly all her scenes but by then I WAS Grace; there was no replacing me.

Let me tell you about Grace; Grace was an angel and a really good angel, but when I was sent to earth I wasn't accustomed to it and was quite a klutz. I was tripping over everything, trying to get used to such a strange environment..... and I was lonely. I tried to make friends, but nothing seemed to be working. Sadly, I turned to put my books in my locker and one of my books dropped onto the head of the most handsome human I'd ever met. It was nerd love at first sight, and we gazed into each others eyes and burst out into a love song. He was just like me: A bit klutzy, trying to fit in and really sweet. We even held hands, er, pinky fingers.

I wore a plaid skirt, black leggings, plaid HiTops, a green striped shirt and nerd glasses. My hair was up in pigtails and I twirled them when I was nervous, which basically was all the time. My laugh was unmistakable and a bit like a machine gun. I was just a classic, hopeless nerd.

Can I say I loved being Grace?

Though I was "Amazing Grace" I failed to show much grace to my fellow cast members. Because my scenes only included my fellow nerd love interest, Norman J. PItts, and we were nerds and fairly accomplished actors and figured out our lines, stage directions easily. The dance moves that took others so long to learn was easy for us: We were nerds so there was a lot of leeway in how bad we performed our dance steps! Because of this, I was required to attend rehearsals but week after week I just sat in the pew watching my friends go through their lines/choreography over and over again.

I say all this because even though I played the role of Grace I struggle with this concept of grace. I'm strangely drawn to truth, expect much of myself and others. I know that grace is important and a huge component of the Christian faith. It's interesting because one of my favorite musicals in Les Miserables and the part where the bishop gives Valjean the silver instead of sending him back to jail for his wrongdoing brings me to tears every time. Grace is so sweet and yet I struggle with it greatly.

What about you? Does grace come easily for you?

Last year I was loaned a wonderful book by Philip Yancey called What's So Amazing About Grace? . I think this is a book I need to read annually.