This is What I Have Been Waiting For

Why are you crying? 

I just think I never expected this kind of response.  This is kind of my dream.

    from “Britain’s Got Talent”    

There’s a video that’s exploded on YouTube recently, getting over 2 million views so far.  It’s of a young British woman named Alice Fredenham and her audition on Britain’s Got Talent.  Alice enters the stage to sing My Funny Valentine and is obviously extremely nervous.

The panel of judges, seeing her discomfort, reassures her:

Don’t be scared

She’s asked if she’s brought anyone with her for support and she responds:

I didn’t invite anybody because if I was not successful I didn’t want to let anybody down.

Tentative, she goes on to sing.  And she overwhelms the audience and the judges with her voice, her passion and her intensity.  She receives a standing ovation from both the audience and judges, including notoriously tough judge Simon Cowell, who exclaims:

This is what I have been waiting for!  You actually don’t know how good you are.

With that reaction, Alice breaks down in tears and is an instant celebrity because of her manner and performance.

You actually don’t know how good you are.

What would it be like if we said this to one another all the time?  What would it be like if we would be more willing to affirm and encourage one another every day?    What would it be like if we would first recognize each other’s gifts and goodness before we see their faults and imperfections?

Simon Cowell, who is notoriously critical, has helped to dash the dreams of many young people with his comments over the course of his public career.   But in Alice Fredenham’s case he probably jump-started her career, allowing her to begin following her dreams in earnest.

That affirmation was a crucial moment in her life.  If she wasn’t affirmed she probably goes back to her life as it was before, her dream certainly deferred, or maybe finished forever.

I didn’t tell anyone because I thought I’d just go it alone. That way if I’m not successful I didn’t have to admit that to anyone. 

The way in which we react to one another can make a huge difference in the path that someone takes for their life.   Do we find ways to encourage and give someone the gift of recognizing their own uniqueness and gifts?  Or do we routinely and all too quickly discourage and chip away at someone’s confidence, hopes and vision?

Think about the critical comments you’ve received over your lifetime, comments that have stopped you from trying something you always wanted to do, that have made you self-conscious and insecure, that have told you – whether it’s true or not – that you are not good enough, smart enough, talented enough, or just plain enough.  We don’t easily forget those comments, do we?

If someone says “no” it’s like you’re not good enough.  That’s where most of my nervousness comes from. 

But then also think of those times when someone has said something encouraging to you, affirming, kind, reassuring, and that you don’t need to be scared, those times when someone told you that you did something really good, that you are smart or talented or gifted – or that you are enough.

What a difference those kind words and thoughts can make.  What a difference they can be in someone’s life.

We all have the opportunity to be an encourager, one who can look beyond the surface to see something deeper – and better – about someone else.  To actually listen to others and to discover the gifts that are within.  The unique gifts that all of us possess.

Perhaps when we do we can hear more people say, as Alice Fredenham was able to say on Britain’s Got Talent:

I prove to everyone that I’m here for something more than maybe they thought.

This is what all of us have been waiting for.

Photo by Andrey Konstantinov on Unsplash