Every year, one of our favorite December traditions is to go to the annual Disney Candlelight Processional. It’s hosted at Epcot, and for lack of better words, it’s just so, so great. Everyone is wished a happy Hanukkah, merry Christmas, and a happy new year. That indeed is what it is.
They read the scriptures and share at length about the historic birth of Jesus, sharing his humble birth in the stable full of hay, with no room in the inn.
They also utilize multiple celebrity narrators, as the processional lasts for over a month, with three shows nightly beginning near Thanksgiving. In recent years, we have had opportunity to hear from Karate Kid’s Ralph Macchio, Olympic gymnast Lorie Hernandez, actor Neil Patrick Harris and so many more.
Last week we heard from Marlee Matlin. And that was truly something special…
Matlin is an accomplished actress. Her accolades include an Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, multiple Emmys and more. She has long had a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Also true is that Matlin is completely deaf, losing her hearing at 18 months old of age.
Regardless of her hearing, as our celebrity narrator, Matlin was undeniably passionate, energetic, lively and had so much to say.
She simply wasn’t verbal.
She would sign. A translator would say all out loud, and then after each reading, a choir would sing…
Joy to the World…
O Come All Ye Faithful…
Angels We Have Heard on High…
And more.
It was beautiful indeed.
But perhaps what was most beautiful was Matlin’s concluding words. She spoke to the audience near the end of the presentation, asking if we noticed how during the songs she was actively looking around. She would look at the singers, then look at the Orchestra, even look into the crowd. She observed and watched and focused intently.
She said to us in the end, “Do you know what I’m doing?”
“I’m looking around. I’m hearing their heart. You hear their words. I hear their heart.”
What a beautiful thing. She can’t hear the actual audio, but she is hearing something more. She is connecting. She is communicating. And somewhere inside of all that reality is something that so aligns with the meaning of Christmas…
The heart matters most. What if we focused on what’s inside the heart of another? No assumptions… no judgment… simply something more than words. What a difference that would make in our call to treat all people well…
So good.
So real and true.
Love that Candlelight Processional. Love, too, how much we can always learn from someone who may speak a little differently than we.
Respectfully,
AR