Four songs and an epiphany

This post is a small homage to one of my favorite romantic movies ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’, a movie that made me realize two things: Hugh Grant is adorable and Andie MacDowell can’t act. See Groundhog Day (another favorite movie) for confirmation of the latter realization.

After I wrote yesterday’s post, my Spidey sense was tingling that something wasn’t right. I am a Christian and I believe God speaks to you, nudging you in the right direction if you’re going off track. And because I’m a singing/acting kinda gal, God speaks to me in songs. Four songs kept bubbling up in my head non-stop – a cacophony communicating I was heading away from what God planned for me. Monday morning I said to Amanda (my friend and sister-in-law) that I didn’t want to fall back into what’s comfortable…and here I was falling back into what was comfortable. So these songs are bouncing around in my head yesterday and today…and my epiphany came. But before we get further into the epiphany, let’s talk about the songs and their meanings to me.

TLDR: here are the four songs and their Spotify links, but you’ll have to scroll to the end for the epiphany

• Sara Groves’ Painting Pictures of Egypt
• Defying Gravity from the musical Wicked
• Strike that Reverse it from the musical Willy Wonka
• Six from the musical Six

Painting Pictures of Egypt – During the last year’s of my father’s life, I drove him to Sandy Springs UMC and attended the 11 am service with him. We were both struggling with my mom’s/his wife’s death. In addition, I was struggling with the end of marriage and was sad and unsure about the future. The ministers ran a series on the lyrics to the Sara Groves’ song Painting Pictures of Egypt. The song is from 2001, so not a new song. I don’t know why they picked that song. I believe it was because God was trying to reach me, to nudge me forward and out of my sadness, out of my dwelling on what was. The sermons and the words really spoke to me. My interpretation of both is that I was painting an image of the past, white washing the bad, and that was holding me back from moving forward. I was comfortable but it wasn’t where I was meant to be.

Defying Gravity – Wicked just finished it’s run in Atlanta. After 20 years of being a Broadway in Atlanta season subscriber, my sister and I chose to not renew, so this was our last show. What a great show to end an outstanding season subscription. I love Wicked. I saw it in Atlanta when it came through and I saw it in London when I lived there (Side note – do NOT buy/read the book it is based on. The book is dreadful.). The musical is amazing. I quoted lyrics from this song at my sister’s rehearsal dinner. The synopsis of the song “Defying Gravity is about finally shrugging off the weight of all that society has told Elphaba – that she’s not good enough, that her green skin makes her a sub-par human. Her family told her that she’s worthless, her neighbors ran in terror and her beloved idol, the Wizard, turned out to be a mere fraud.” There are two parts that were ringing/singing in my head

Strike that Reverse it – When I visited with my Aunt a few weeks ago, we went to the Cumberland County Players production of Willy Wonka. I had seen the show in NYC and was excited to see a community theatre production. The show is fun and the Cumberland players did an outstanding job. This song in particular is a racing tongue twister. But the main part in my head was just that line over and over ‘strike that reverse it’. I felt God was telling me to stop! Stop! STOP!

Six – This is a great show that I saw in NYC – a last minute decision as Hamilton got canceled due to Covid. The story is about the lives of King Henry’s 6 wives from their perspective. The show feels more like of a fun pop concert. This last song is about them taking ownership and not letting others/HIStory define them..turning it into HERstory.

So the epiphany…my post yesterday (which I’m keeping as a reminder to myself) and my actions as of late is all coming from the space of being comfortable with what I know. And what God is telling me is that I need perhaps to move in another direction. In order to grow, I need to get outside my comfort zone. So stay tuned!