Finding Your Voice

When Paul Potts, a mobile phone salesman from New South Wales, announced that he was "here to sing opera" on the television show, Britain's Got Talent - think American Idol with an English accent - it was all that Simon Cowell, his fellow judges, Piers Morgan and Amanda Holden, and the audience could do not to snicker out loud.

Poor guy. Rumpled suit. Gap in his front teeth large enough to drive a red double decker London tourist bus through. Slouched posture. A near-grimace of self doubt on his face that was truly painful to behold. An embarrassing moment just head. A car wreck you just couldn't take your eyes off. So I had to watch.

And then the miracle. A voice suited for the Royal Opera House in London or the Teatro alla Scala in Milan stunningly bursts forth on the opera classic, Nessun Dorma. The loquacious Cowell had no words - Amanda openly weeped. Audience members, including some who looked like they were on their way to a U2 or Linkin Park concert and might possibly have never heard of opera, gave Paul one standing ovation after another.

The timid phone salesman found his voice.

Many people seem to simply be going through the motions in life. Too many disappointments. Too many failures. Too little recognition and affirmation.

Of course, it's possible that some of us have given up dreaming and daring for the simple reason that we have held on to the wrong dreams for too long. We've been trying to sing someone else's song and haven't found our own calling, our own gifting, our own purpose that transcends gap teeth, rumpled suits, and any other shortcomings real or perceived.

Have you found your voice? When your moment arrives, will you be ready to sing?