I’ve been thinking a lot about scripts lately. It’s partly because I am raising a couple of theater kids, and so we spend a good amount of time reading, writing, and sometimes performing. We also play improvisation games, because acting is really about reacting, or so I’ve heard.

My diet app has also been talking to me about scripts. Apparently, in order to change my diet and workout habits, I also need to rehearse a few lines. I need to know what to say when the server at the restaurant asks me if I want a refill of a soft drink. I need to know how to respond when someone asks me if that’s all I’m going to eat. I’m supposed to practice these lines now, before I get into the actual situation, so that when the time comes, I will know exactly what to say.

After a 40 day fast, Jesus is led to the desert, where the deceiver came to tempt him. And with every temptation, Jesus answered with a script/scripture. Jesus was the word made flesh. Of course, he knew his lines.

I’m not very good at this. I don’t mind running lines with the kids. Heck, I’ve memorized some of their scripts. But when it comes to real life situations, I am not the person you’d turn to for the right words to say. I can be a little harsher than I mean to be. I may not use the right words. I may not deliver my lines exactly right.

I’m learning from the budding thespians in my home, that you don’t have to know your lines exactly, as long as you get the key words, and give enough cues to the people with whom you share the stage with to move the scene along.

What lines are you repeating that are keeping you stuck in the same scene? What key words do you need to move yourself along? For some of us we just simply need to turn the page. Others of us need to flip the script completely.

There is a lot going on in the world today, and sometimes I just can’t find the words to say. The good news is that I’ve got great scene partners who know how to feed me my lines. That’s my prayer for all of us, that if we lose our place on the page, the people who love us can step in, feed us our lines, and carry the scene if need be.

Thank God for all the characters in my little play. I couldn’t do it without you.