Break A Leg

In Tennessee Williams' play The Glass Menagerie, the main characters represent his family.

On opening night at the Chicago Civic Theatre in 1944, after the final curtain, Edwina Williams went backstage to congratulate her son and the actors. Laurette Taylor, who had played the mother, spotted her and quipped, "How did you like you'self, Miz Williams?" The playwright's mother registered shock; she had no idea that Amanda Wingfield was supposed to be her.

Worse yet was the alcoholic Mr. Williams. He snorted that he failed to see how the character of the father, who had abandoned the family years before the action of the play begins, was supposed to represent him. After all, he had not run off; he was still around. He, of course, missed the whole point: physically present but emotionally absent, he had sorely wounded the entire family.

Yet, let us not be too hard on Mr. and Mrs. Williams.

I sometimes wonder what God, the Master Playwright of the Universe, thinks when we read His "script", or, more accurately, "Scripture". He puts us in every line, exposing our faults, revealing our sin, all in His desire to make us recognize our sinful portrait (Ecc. 7:20; Rom. 3:10,23) and to serve as a catalyst to get us to turn to Him for forgiveness and redemption. And what do we do? We see our neighbors, our friends, our co-workers, or our enemies on every page; we see everyone but ourselves (2 Cor. 10:12).

Let me ask you, have you been doing some accusing lately? I have a suggestion; write down everything that you have against any one else, spare no feelings and pour on the adjectives. Then read it through, standing in front of the nearest mirror, and very carefully listen as the Holy Spirit asks, "How did you like you'self?" (John 16:8).  Then plead the blood of Jesus Christ to cleanse the record before the final curtain falls (I John 1:7,9).

Break A Leg,
Pastor David Blevins