......revelations of one woman's reality of life, love, and all things hopeful...

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Two Thumbs Up for "Jukebox Diner"







Friday evening I attended the annual dinner theatre of the DeKalb County Children's Advocacy Center. This year, the play "Jukebox Diner" starred my very good friend and hero Stephanie McFall. I always tell Stephanie that she is a modern Lucille Ball, and on Friday she once again sparkled on stage like the beautiful star that she is!

The play was full of lively characters, witty one-liners, and..get this...humorous "sight gag" (Stephanie taught me that theatrical term!). Ultimately, however, if you so chose to look for a deeper theme in the play, the question was examined of whether or not happiness and contentment in life is a choice.

Can a person simply choose be happy and content in life?

Do our circumstances not highly influences our happiness?

What do we do with the mundane circumstances of everyday life?
What if we are not born into privilege?
Must we pursue happiness?

I think maybe the operative word here is happiness. In my opinion, happiness comes and goes. Those irritations in life we experience day in and out may indeed affect our happiness. For example, I WAS NOT happy to wake up this morning to discover that an animal had gotten in our big garbage can outside. I WAS NOT happy in the least while I picked up the empty ketchup bottle, last night's supper scraps, and dirty poop diapers that were scattered in the yard. I was content in knowing, however, that this is my job, this is life, and sometimes a stray dog gets in my garbage.


It was a choice to be content, not allowing the irritation to ruin my whole day. It was human nature to be unhappy when I saw the garbage all over the yard.


Unfortunately, bigger irritations than stray dogs in our garbage cans do come along in life. Frequently. If we are human, we most likely won't be too happy about it when the irritations come, but we can make a choice to be content.

Happiness is peripheral, contentment is central.
On the flip side, sometimes we can be completely happy with our circumstances...life can appear to be good with minimal irritations, finances are good, work is good, it's all good. But centrally, way deep down, there is discontentment. An emptiness. An ache. An itch that just must be scratched.
That's the place that only Jesus Christ can reside. He is contentment. Sometimes He moves us to another place to fill that space. Sometimes He asks us to walk away from habits or relationships so that He can fill that empty place with Himself. Sometimes He brings us to our knees. Sometimes He takes us high upon the mountaintop. Sometimes He shows us something in His Word to bring contentment. He does anything He wants to do...He's God.
Are you happy today?
More importantly, are you content today?

1 comment:

by-HIS-Grace said...

YEAH!! Great show as always and mostly for a great cause.
Theia, your last paragraph in this is what makes it - JESUS and are you content.