Finding Your Spark

I just got done watching “Soul” by Disney and Pixar. Have you seen it? It’s so good!

It’s about a jazz musician who dies just after he gets his big break. Through a major mishap, he ends up in the “Great Before,” where he is chosen to help a new soul find its “spark" or reason for living.

There are a lot of thought-provoking ups and downs throughout this movie that make you ponder the purpose of life, but the concept that stuck with me came at the very end.

(If you have never seen it, this is a spoiler alert. You have been warned!)

The main character ends up getting a second chance at life, and right before he is sent back to earth, he is asked the question, “So what do you think you’ll do? How do you think you’ll spend your life?” and he replies, “I’m not sure, but I do know, I’m going to live every minute of it.”

What a line!

We spend so much of our lives searching for this one great purpose, this sole reason for living. But as Joe learned in this movie, it is possible that in the process of constantly seeking, we can lose our ability to find joy in the little things, in the tiny wonders we have now deemed mundane.

Sure, I feel alive during the big life moments, like getting married or buying a house. And yes, I get excited over the things that I'm passionate about, like writing or traveling. But there is just as much life to be experienced in the less glamorous moments when I am cleaning my house, walking the dog, or driving to work on yet another Monday.

This movie reminds us that every part of life is an opportunity to live and that we take many miracles for granted; like leaves falling against a setting sun, the wind blowing through our hair as we ride a bike, the taste of pizza, or a conversation with a fellow human. When we can find the spark in the small moments, then folding laundry can become just as meaningful as painting the Sistine Chapel.

I'm reminded of Philippians 4:10-14, "...I've found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am..." When we are less concerned with finding who we are meant to be and can find contentment in the One who makes us who we are, it frees us up to see the beauty all around us in all things.

What might we be missing while we are focusing so hard on the search for our purpose?