It was the last note of the song played and automatically we began breaking down and unplugging. It’s the, “Good night everybody and thanks for coming.” It’s the benediction, “In Jesus name, Amen.” It’s the “Don’t forget your assignment in the morning!!.” We start unplugging and disconnecting the power. Pix pulls the cord out of the bottom of the bass guitar, Smokey reaches for the power button on the back of the synthesizer. Maurice stands and begins to unscrew the butterfly off the top of the cymbal stand. The time clock for the ball game has expired and the alarm sounds. We line up and shake the hands of the opposing teams and once you head towards the bleachers and locker room, it’s happens. Once you turn off the podium light, grab your bible, step out the pulpit, shake hands of loving congregants, and head toward the office, it’s when it happens. The sound man kills the power and we immediately begin wrapping up the cords. We are reaching for equipment cases and storage bins. It’s the moment the writer, after editing and scanning for errors, taps the send button, that’s when it happens. It’s the moment the bell rings for class to be dismissed and the teacher gathers her belongings. There is a pause right in there.
Where are we? You are in the pause and space of gifted people. This is the behind the scene, back stage pass to the burden and gift of a calling. What is consistent about the ball player, the bass guitarist, the writer, the teacher, and even the preacher is, we all love to do what we do.
We love it so much, we wish we didn’t have to deal with the other part. What other part? You know, the living, reality, struggle, heartbreak part of life. The ups, the downs, the success and failures, the strengths and weaknesses, that all of us have. It would have been nice to have the gift but be exempt of bills, family disfunction, credit scores, and opposition. The Lord didn’t see fit to allow it to be so I guess. What people don’t know is, If we would eat, sleep, and just do this, we would.
It’s the walkway that resonates in my mind and the conversation that levitates within the head and heart of such people. We love it. The same person who did it alone in a cold dark basement or a back bedroom, with no one around, is the same person who would do it with the same intensity before a crowd of thousands.
It’s the Dream
We might have been facing a bedroom wall, singing to stuffed animals, or hooping with a rolled up pair of socks and a waste paper backer, but we were practicing our world class performance before millions. We all dream of the crowd. The game winning shot, the standing ovation, the Pulitzer Prize, the spiritual eruption of joy within the sanctuary, we all see and feel it!! The Earth Wind and Fire album, with Philip Bailey singing Reasons LIVE!! We all listen and feel the roar of the crowd. There is nothing like it and it can never be forgotten. We just don’t do it for the crowd, we do it because WE LOVE IT!!
It’s the Painful Part
We’ve stood in some amazing places in a short life time. We’ve had some experiences so breathtakingly outstanding that we tear up thinking about it. The problem is, we have no one to share it with. We are blown away but are expected to act like this is business as usual. We get invited into rooms with celebrity that we have dreamed all our lives of meeting, but cannot act like the “foolish fan,” that we know we are.
I’m not sure if the air is “up” there or “over” there, or even “down” there, but wherever the air is, it can be lonely. No matter how high a person soars in career or accomplishment, they all have moments when they pause and think about where they come from. There is always a reservation in expressing that joy in the company of the wrong people because they assume and quickly label it to be arrogant and braggadocios. Most gifted folks are just as surprised as you are in the new found elevation. Stop tripping.
It’s the Arrival
It’s when you arrive at home. After the unrobing, the shower, the meal, the brushing of your teeth, and the removal of the leather, bells and whistles! After the phone calls, celebration, adoration. It’s when heads recline back on bed pillows in rooms of solitude and darkness. It’s the final exhale of a magical night spent doing that which we are most passionate about. It’s the heavenly thank you and thought that this could be my last night. We rest hoping and knowing that we have somehow given our best to convincingly convey the message for people to “go for it!”
You never know what gifted people are thinking until you ask. It’s not all that it’s cracked up to be and the glitz and glamor that the world sees, somehow evades us and if by chance we do experience a small portion of it, in comparison, it really is a substandard payment for a life sacrificed in its honor. Believe me when I tell you, IT’S ONLY BECAUSE WE LOVE IT!!
It’s the Gamble
If it was about mining for gold and riches, we would choose a different occupation and dig in another plot of dirt!! If it’s about making a fortune, we would take our chips and gamble at another table and play another game!!! This is strictly about that love for the game!! I wish I could take the time to explain that love and passion but I can’t. I simply hope you find something worth living and dying for.
I am trying to make a small contribution in these areas: Ministry, music, literature, motivational speaking, and the life transformation of lives. I encourage you to find and do that which you love to do and find it impossible to stop doing.
Wil
therealwil.com 
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