Finding Your Spark

 Warning: This article may contain spoilers for the movie Soul. Which you should watch and then come back and read this. I’ll wait.

            

A couple of weeks ago, I watched the new Disney Pixar movie, Soul.Soul is the story of a band teacher whose life-long dream is to be a jazz musician. The band teacher, Joe, wants nothing more than to sit at the piano on a stage and lose himself in the soul-moving-dance that is music. In a beautiful scene towards the beginning, Joe auditions to play a gig at a local night club and as he plays the piano, everything else around him fades away. He goes into a sort of trance that lets you know his whole self is in this music. He gets the gig of his life and on his way home, he falls into a manhole and ends up in a coma. The next thing he knows, he’s on a highway to the light but he doesn’t want to go just yet. He finds a way off the path towards the Great Beyond and winds up in a colorful dream-like world called the Great Before (well, now it’s called the You Seminar. Rebranding.). He becomes a mentor to a young soul who has yet to be born – Soul 22 – and Joe’s sole job now (pun intended) is to help Soul 22 find her spark. Find the spark, go to earth and live. Joe believes Number 22 is his ticket home, back to life, back to his body, back to his big dream. All he has to do is help 22 find her spark.

Joe thinks the spark is just a purpose. He thinks the spark is that one thing that you are meant to do for the rest of your life. But Soul teaches us (reminds us) a spark is more than just purpose. The spark is a something-something that makes you want to get up in the morning. The spark is what gives you life. It feeds your…well, your soul. To put it in terms Marie Kondo would use, the spark is what gives you joy*.

Watching the movie made me think about my own spark and what gives me joy. What is that spark that would fill out my earth patch and bring me down to earth to live? We each have a spark, though sadly, some never find it. Some only find it with the help of good mentors and friends. Some seem like they know their spark from the moment they are born. I think my spark is imagination. It is wondering what comes next and wondering how something works. My spark is creating a story, telling a story, and knowing that I am a part of a story. 

This can work against me, too. In Soul, when the thing that usually sparks joy becomes an obsession, your soul finds itself weighed down. In the movie, you become a lost soul, lost in the repetitious sands of whatever obsession keeps pounding in your brain. If I have to write a story just to get a story written, if I have to tell a story just because I have to tell a story and I repeat in my head, “Have to get this done, have to get this done,” then I’m not doing it for the joy. My spark is less light and more heavy. 

I think this is why I stopped piano lessons. I loved going to piano lessons until my senior year of high school when my teacher wanted me to memorize a Mozart sonata and play in a competition. I tried, and I did memorize the first page. But the music became more about trying to get into a competition and less about the joy of playing. The spark went out. 

This is why I won’t quilt as a full-time career or open up an online shop. I don’t want to quilt for money. I want to quilt because I love to quilt. And I don’t minister because I want to be the best pastor. I minister because God called me to do this, and I love this call. I love that one of the vows I take is to pray for the people and serve with “imagination, energy, intelligence, and love.” 

We each have a spark, and everyone’s spark is different. Spending some time reflecting and believing that my spark is imagination helps me make decisions that feed my imagination in healthy ways rather than destructive ways. Knowing my spark helps me grow as a person. I don’t know what your spark might be, but I believe you have one. Your spark, as the great writer Howard Thurman would say, what makes you come alive. 

So, dear friends. What’s making you come alive today? What might your spark be? Spend some time reflecting. Go watch the movie Soul. And I’d love to hear what you think!

 



                                                                 (image from the movie Soul)


 *I would point out joy and happiness are related, but not the same. See also the movie Inside Out. But bring tissues. Because it's Pixar.

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