If you have never seen the musical Annie here is the synopsis. Annie is about an 11 year old Orphan who lives in an Orphanage with many other orphans in NYC. Annie has hope that her parents are still alive because she has a letter and half a locket from them. She gets invited over to a Billionaire's house (Oliver Warbucks) for two weeks to spend the Christmas season. She loves it there but wishes she could be with her parents. When Mr. Warbucks discovers that Annie wants her parents found he hires over 50 FBI agents and conducts a nation-wide search to find Annie's parents. Many couples try to trick the billionaire and his assistant saying, "We are Annie's parents." because they desire the 50,000 dollar cash reward. In the end, the FBI agents discover that Annie's parents passed away many years ago. This leads to a heart wrenching scene but in the end Mr. Warbucks adopts Annie into his family. It concludes with Annie calling Mr. Warbucks, "Daddy."
Through out this movie the little girl is stunning in her optimism. She sings the song, "Tomorrow," countless times to cheer the mood. She knows that even though the situation is looking bad that things will be better tomorrow. In the orphanage she cheers the "children" up by singing tomorrow. She even sings it to the FDR when the presidential cabinet is feeling depressed. She inspires the president to come up with the "New Deal."
There are a four things that I learned watching the musical last night.
1) Community is necessary in order to make it through tough times.
The first place we see this in "Annie" is at the orphanage. When we have things in common with each other we are able to bond over our common interests and when tough times arise use that developed relationship to lean back on. The girls held a common bond of their hatred toward Miss Hannigan.
Looking at our own lives. When do you find healing? By yourself? Only over time? Those are myths. We find healing by getting whatever is bothering us up and out. James, the brother of Jesus, said it this way: "Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed."
I am not saying that if you confess your sins and hurts to God that you will not find forgiveness and even healing. But how much more can you find comfort and healing if you walk with your brother or sister in Christ through your tough time!
I believe this is where we often time drop the ball. We are too focus on ourselves and not the needs of the other. The common bond of believing in Jesus for our salvation is the greatest bond in all of the world. If a rag tag bunch of little girls from the great depression can band together over their hatred for Miss Hannigan how much more can we band together over our love for Jesus!
2) When tough times come we can see the brighter side.
Annie sings her song "Tomorrow" in which she proclaims a promise she believes to be true. She says, "The sun will come up tomorrow. Thinking about tomorrow will clear away the cobwebs and the sorrow. The sun will come up tomorrow. You're only a day away."
Wow. What a promise she was able to hold onto. And guess what? She was right. When we are negative and fill our minds with those negative thoughts we trap ourselves. But when we start looking on the brighter side of those we can start to have positive thoughts. Positive words produce positive thoughts which produce positive actions.
The idea of hope within the Christian framework is often under underestimated.
Jesus came to bright hope two fold.
a) In the future.
The scriptures end with a promise. Jesus promised when he returns that, "He will wipe away every tear from our eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
What a great promise. That there will be a time when there is no more hatred. No more fear. No more discrimination. We will be completely free to be all we have been designed to be by God. I hate crying. I don't think many people like it. There will be a day when you can't cry because there will be no need to cry!
b) Right now.
The hope that Jesus brings now is to be with us through tough times.
One of the last words that Jesus told his disciples before he was killed was, "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
He is telling them that they are going to have some tough times ahead. Some of them will even die for their faith. Jesus does not give them a pass on persecution. What he does give them is a promise. He says that I will be with you. I will walk beside you.
Reflecting back on my own journey: I am incredibly thankful that God allowed bad things to occur in my life. I would not be the same person if I had not been tested with difficult situations in my life.
Jesus does not promise an easy life for you or for me. He does promise that he will be with us through it all. And that is a better promise. Because the sun will come up tomorrow and when it comes up you and I will be stronger.
3) God adopts us into his family
There is this great parallel between Annie and the Bible referring to adoption and selfless love. In the musical Annie, Annie is adopted by Mr. Warbucks. Mr. Warbucks knew there was something missing in his life. He had all the money, fame, and possessions in the world. What he did not have was someone to spend his life with.
In the same way, God adopts us into His family. God has all the money, fame and possessions in the world. What does he need? Nothing. No one. But He yearned for a relationship with us. His yearning was so great that He sent Jesus to the cross in order to gain a relationship with us.
Saint Paul said it this way:
"But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, "Abba, Father."
I love that at the end of the musical, Annie calls Mr. Warbucks "Daddy." They no longer had an impersonal relationship. She no longer was an orphan but a child of her daddy.
In the same way, we can call out to our Abba, Father. Abba means our daddy. We now have a deep relationship with the one who created the universe. Not only can we believe that the sun will come up tomorrow; we can know the One who has designed the sun to come up tomorrow.
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4) God has big things for us. But it might look different then what we had planned.
You might have heard this Bible verse before talking about the future:
"For I know the plans I have for you, declare the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." (Jer 29:11)
These words are completely true but often misused. Many look at these words and think if I follow God I will be living on "Easy Street." It is true that God has plans for us and they are good plans but never once are we promised to have an easy life.
In context with the rest of the Bible, Jeremiah is writing a letter to people that follow God but are trapped in a land that was not there own. They were hearing rumors that they were only going to be there for a little while. But God spoke through Jeremiah to tell them they were going to be there for awhile! (See Jeremiah 29:4-10)
He is telling them the opposite of what many believe about this verse. He is telling them that life is going to be tough but it is part of God's plan. He is telling them that God's plan for them is to live in exile for right now. They need to learn and grow and mature.
He goes on to tell them that He will bring them into a better situation but it is going to be awhile. This is where are confidence and faith needs to be in that God knows what he is doing. Life was tough and they had a choice whether to believe and trust that God was going to fulfill his promise.
Two things can happen when you are going through a tough time.
a) The first is that God might change your position.
This is what happened to Annie. She was living in the orphanage when the assistant to Mr. Warbucks comes in and choose Annie over the other children.
For Annie this is not what she thought was going to happen. Her dream was finding out who her parents were and living with them forever.
That didn't happen. But that's okay. Because it all worked out. God had something better in store for Annie and usually God has something better for us that what we are thinking about. We tend to settle for what we think is best. But God has something way better planned for us.
b) The second is that God might change your perspective.
That's what happened to the followers of God in Jeremiah 29. They thought they were going to have a change in position. That God was going to come in and get them out of there. Instead, God came in and changed the way they thought.
He said, "You are going to be here for awhile."
He said, "Build houses, settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters away in marriage. Seek the peace and prosperity of the city. Because when it prospers so will you prosper."
Sometimes we are looking for an out when the situation gets tough. More times then not I have learned that God is using that situation to change me. Transform for into the person He desires me to be. Because if I am able to overcome a tragedy then I can bring hope to someone else down the road.
We need to remember that when life does seem hopeless that the Sun will come up tomorrow and that God is using everything in our lives for our good.
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