There's a reason they call it performing in front of a "live audience." Have you ever been to a play or a performance where the audience was dead? My kids have seen both sides this year- audiences so good that they make a mediocre performance seem worthy of an academy award, and audiences that were so dead that performing in a morgue would have been more exciting. When they come home from a performance, I've learned that the best question to ask is "How was the audience?"
I've trying to apply this to my life in all kinds of ways. What kind of audience am I? At a soccer game, I want to learn the kid's names and encourage them from the sidelines. At a play performance, I want to be one of the ones that laughs and claps loudly. When I'm reading a friend's blog, I want to take time to leave a comment now and then. Romans 12: 15 tells us to "Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep." I want my friends to know I am in the audience of their lives, I am sharing in their victories and sorrows, and I am rooting for them.
