From The Daily Observer

Be who you were meant

Posted By REV. ERIC STRACHAN

She appeared on “Oprah” this past week, and as we say, ‘there was hardly a dry eye in the place.’ Singing the song, “Who I Was Born To Be,” from her debut album, “I Dreamed A Dream,” Susan Boyle’s performance can only be described as riveting, sensational, phenomenal -you run out of superlatives in describing it.

That response to Boyle is nothing new. When she first appeared on “Britain’s Got Talent,” the UK version of “Canadian Idol,” the panel and audience who saw her come on stage made their pre-judgements, even before the first note came out of her mouth. Here was this “frumpy” 48 year-old, plain as Jane, chubby-cheeked spinster. “Gee!’ If you want to make it these days in the music industry as a woman you gotta have some sparkle, some glitz, show some flesh, be as sexy as “Beyonce,” as flirty as Lady Gaga or as outrageous as Kesha.” That’s the line. This Third Millenial audience were waiting to hear the matronly Boyle “squawk like a duck.” Weren’t they in for the biggest surprise of their life!

From the very moment the Catholic-born Susan Magdalane Boyle opened her mouth ’she knocked them dead.’ As one writer so aptly put it, “she managed to pick every hair from the back of your head and yank it to attention.” Boyle sang like a lark at the dawn with a voice that blew the audience right out of the water. Since that memorable moment back in April 11, 2009, Susan Boyle’s debut album, “I Dreamed A Dream,” has gone on to sell some eight million copies, becoming the fastest selling U.K. album of all time. Her appearance on “Britain’s Got Talent” has taken over 100 million hits on the Web. Being a Scot, I must confess, when I saw her debut album for sale at my local Christian bookseller I dashed in to get a copy. The CD is worth it just for the song “Who I Was Born To Be.” Do yourself a favour -if you’ve been shattered in life, disappointed, broken, if you’ve had dreams that you’ve pursued only to have seen them blown away with the wind, buy Susan Boyle’s album. There are some songs on it that are clearly great therapy for the disillusioned and wounded soul.

Boyle was born not far from where I used to spend my summers in Scotland, in a fairly small place called Blackburn, at the heart of the coal-mining industry in the nation. Her Dad was a miner. The youngest of 10 children, Susan was deprived of oxygen at birth and entered into infancy with some learning disabilities.

One can well imagine that Susan, the runt of the litter, would get all the hand-me-downs, and by the time the Boyle’s fed 10 mouths, there wouldn’t be too much left of a miner’s salary, so at school, where recess bullying was as much in vogue as it is today, the kids labelled her, “Susie Simple.” When she sings, “I Dreamed A Dream, ” from Les Miserables, you can detect the reference to some of these painful years of her life.

Let me pause here for a moment and move the focus from Susan Boyle to you. Tell me, did you have a dream as a kid, as a teenager, as a young man or woman? Do you still have a dream, but it’s vaporizing into oblivion, disappearing fast before your eyes?Maybe you’re growing up in a dysfunctional home, your Dad’s an alcoholic. Maybe it’s hard to sleep at night -yet you have dreams of a better day. Maybe the cold blight of adversity has walked through your front door, completely unannounced and left you reeling with the premature death of a child, a wife or a husband.

Can I tell you in the midst of the reality of your heartache, you can dream again. Maybe your engagement has been broken off, maybe you’ve been diagnosed with P.T.S.D. and when you look at yourself in the mirror, you see yourself as an emotional cripple. Maybe you’re in hospital, feeling miserable, awaiting a prognosis. Maybe you’re on drugs, and you can’t kick the habit.

Can I tell you that God’s a dreamer? He always has had dreams for you, since the very moment you exited from your mother’s womb, God has dreamed a dream for you.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” He says, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (The Bible, Jeremiah 29:11)

When Susan Boyle sung on “Oprah” this past week, she sung the words from “Who I Was Born To Be”: “And so here I am/Open arms and ready to stand/ I’ve got the world in my hands/ And it feels like my turn to fly.”

Some of you have been grounded for far too long. Disillusionment, discouragement and defeat have kept you on the tarmac of life. You were born to fly. I think the time is just about right for you to take off. You can be who you were born to be………………yes you can!