Too much, too quick
It’s the same story we’ve heard, read and talked about too often. A young person reaches fame and success in the eyes of the world too soon. She peaks early and fizzles fast.
You read the story right?
Shirley Temple passed away this past week.
It’s true
First, Shirley Temple did pass away this past week (I know, I had no idea she was still alive either!).
Second, Shirley Temple did peak too soon.
The Life and Times of Shirley Temple
Here’s her story in a nutshell – you can read the long version HERE.
Temple was “discovered” at the age of 3 (or 4, since her birth certificate was doctored by the studios to make her younger) and was a movie screen mainstay from 1935-1938. She won a “special” Oscar in 1934 and single-handedly saved 20th Century Fox studios from bankruptcy.
In the midst of the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt remarked “that for just 15 cents, an American can go to a movie and look at the smiling face of a baby and forget his troubles.”
It didn’t last long. Despite performing in over 40 movies before her 12th birthday, Shirley was old news when she hit her teens. She acted in her last movie in 1949 – 15 years after breaking into the business!
Temple transitioned out of fame as quietly as she had roared onto the scene only a few years earlier.
Topping it off, at the age of 22, Temple learned only $28,000 remained of the $3.2 million she had earned during her career.
Temple was quickly married and divorced, but found her footing in her 2nd marriage. It lasted over 50 years! She raised 3 children as a homemaker, entered politics, and ended her professional career as an ambassador.
What are you defined by?
If anyone deserved to go Justin Bieber on the world, it was Shirley Temple. Success, failure, wealth, poverty; none of these defined who Shirley Temple was.
I don’t know what it was. Maybe it was her family. Maybe it was the realization she was broke. Maybe it was the times she lived in.
Shirley Temple was able to do something not many people in any walk of life are able to do. She had the ability to see her life from a 30,000′ viewpoint. She saw the beginning to the now, but she also looked beyond to a bigger future.
I don’t care who you are, this is really hard to do.
It’s hard if not impossible to extract ourselves from the moment. The past and present have a way of eating up all the space in our head. It doesn’t allow us to see the big picture…the story that’s in the midst of being told.
There is a bigger story.
There is more to you and me than the past and the present. When our story is told, they will be there. They will be there to help tell the bigger picture. They do not define the final chapters.
The story is a story of redemption.
It’s what we want to hear. It’s what we want to read. It’s what we want to see. It’s Shirley Temple’s story. It’s the story God wants for you. It’s the story God wants for me.
So don’t allow yourself to be defined by your past or your present. Know your story is bigger than that.
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