Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Purposefulness (Purpose in Life) (05/25/06)
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TITLE: The Invisible Singer | Previous Challenge Entry
By Emily Lockwood
06/01/06 -
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As Victoria reached high school age, her dream did not diminish and she continued to practice and sing through her favorite songs. Her great desire for voice lessons was finally satisfied when her father agreed to hire a voice teacher. He was concerned that Victoria’s passion for singing was only a passing phase, but she continued to practice.
She joined her high school’s choir program but was placed in the treble chorus, the least advanced choir in the school. Her choir teacher Mr. Ryder never gave her the time of day, but constantly showered complements on Tiffanee, the girl that stood next to her on the bleachers.
“Your voice is full of potential Tiffani,” he said. “I look forward to seeing you in one of our advanced choirs someday.” Tiffanee beamed with pleasure.
When solo tryouts for the annual choir show came about, Tiffanee got a solo in the first half of the performance with all the upperclassmen singers. Victoria received nothing.
As the years went by, Victoria graduated from the Treble Choir, and the Mixed Choir, finally making the advanced A Capella Choir. Besides that everything stayed the same. Tiffanee looked beautiful on stage as she sang at the all-school talent show, and the choir show. She even sang the National Anthem at the school football game as an admiring audience, and a row of dumbstruck players eagerly looked on.
Victoria jealously watched Tiffanee live out her childhood of dream of fame and recognition day by day until she could stand it no more.
“God must have a terribly cruel sense of humor, giving me a talent and then slamming every door in my face,” she thought bitterly to herself.
Her dreams evaporated like water on a sunny day as she gave up all hope of reaping rewards from her gift. Nevertheless she found it too hard to give up her singing completely, and continued to undergo voice lessons and daily warm-ups.
Her mother soon grew tired of Victoria’s continual moping and complaining around the house. She decided to take Victoria along on one of her weekly visits to her friends at the nursing home despite Victoria’s initial protests.
Room by room they stopped and visited with the elderly, until at last that came upon a room with a younger inhabitant. The woman who lived in this room looked no older then thirty and had a glazed off look in her eyes. She lay in a hospital like bed under crumpled up green sheets. A tube connected to a whirring machine went up the woman’s arm.
“Who could live in such dismal circumstances?” Victoria thought to herself.
Her mother took out a hymnbook from her bag and they began to sing to the woman. What began as tentative singing soon erupted into a joyful chorus of praise to God as the two singers sang the music of eras past. The mute woman’s face broke out in a smile as the mother and daughter continued to sing.
At that moment Victoria realized the real reason why God had given her the gift of singing. The purpose of her talent did not lie in self-fulfillment, but in doing His work for others. Victoria happily sang on.
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