Are You Really Satisfied?

I am a big fan of stage productions, musicals, and the power of character, struggle, and story. Many of you probably share this passion, blasting Les Miserables, Wicked, Phantom of the Opera, or perhaps a Disney soundtrack while you run errands, clean your bathroom, or go on a run. Before you know it, your kitchen has become the stage, the spatula you’re supposed to be washing is now a microphone, and your dog, perhaps unwilling, your audience. The upbeat choruses take you to a world all your own – soon you’re in the barricades fighting for your beloved France, or defying gravity, letting all of Oz know you’re not afraid, ready to risk! The power ballads tug at something deep within – feeling the heartbreak of unrequited love or odds stacking ever higher against dreams being made reality.

We all know life is not a musical and people do not burst into song at random to inspire, share their thoughts, or rally a cause (even though we sometimes wish this was the case). Even so, this doesn’t lessen the love we have for them. Maybe because it’s a way for us to express or explain that which we fail to find our own words for when it comes to love, loss, and pain – this thing called life. Music inspires. Art inspires. Not just musicals, but movies, paintings, dance, poetry, novels, songs, both instrumental and those with lyrics – they can all speak to us. They remind us of truth, sometimes painful, sometimes joyful. They remind us life isn’t always what we hope – there is pain, loss, and roadblocks, but through those things, somehow, there’s growth that comes. They remind us what is important; how good it is to laugh, dream, and share this life with the people around you.

When I saw The Greatest Showman in theaters, I thought it was a visually stunning film, and while personally I wished for a bit more character depth and development, it was enjoyable. What struck me and stayed with me was the music. Weeks before I saw this movie, people all around me kept asking if I had seen it yet and implored me to go as soon as possible because they knew I would fall in love with it. They shared how its themes centered around dreams and risk and usually the conversation would end with, “Ahhh, you just have to go see it!”

So I did.

The day after seeing it I found myself looking up the soundtrack playlist on Youtube. After having that on repeat most of the day, I started really hearing the lyrics. I purchased the good old CD version online so I could blast it on my way to work since my 16-year old car isn’t up on the latest bluetooth technology. Nearly every song captivated me and stirred something within my heart. It wasn’t the beautiful melodies and powerful performances by these beloved actors. It wasn’t the story they were telling. It was the depth behind the lyrics and how the Lord was using them to speak straight to my heart, into my own story and the story He is writing in each of our lives. He was reminding me of His truth – how He sees me, how He sees each person in this world. How He pursues, how much more He has waiting for us if we will just step out and give Him our yes!

So, while I know it was not the intent of The Greatest Showman to speak of biblical truth, God sure used it to share glimmers of His Gospel – which is what I want to share with you. I’ve written about this before in previous blogs, so I won’t spend too much time reiterating it, but so much of our world reflects its Creator, especially story! So, even though these lyrics and this story are “secular” and the true story of P.T. Barnum’s circus is much darker, I see the Father in them. I see Jesus. I see the Holy Spirit. I don’t go fishing for connections and parallels where there are none – the Lord just makes Himself so clear and I can’t help but share it with you. I hope through this next series of blogs you read with an open heart and mind and see what it is the Lord might be speaking to your own heart through this music.

I’m going to devote the next three blogs (maybe more) to specific songs from The Greatest Showman and the truths that sang from some of the lyrics and have continued to echo in my mind and heart, inspiring me to dig deeper with the Father. I hope they do the same for you.

With each song, I will include a link to listen. I ask that you listen to the song once before reading the blog and then again after. Up first: “Never Enough.”

Listen: “Never Enough” performed by Loren Allred, original songs by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul

In the context of the movie, this song is referring to romantic love – how achieving it all and living out dreams isn’t going to cut it without that one person to share it with. To me, it speaks of how nothing in this world means anything without the Father and how none of it could ever be enough to fill and satisfy what only He can. It will never be enough.

I’m trying to hold my breath

Let it stay this way

Can’t let this moment end

You set off a dream in me

Getting louder now

Can you hear it echoing?

Take my hand

Will you share this with me?

‘Cause darling without you

All the shine of a thousand spotlights

All the stars we steal from the night sky

Will never be enough

Never be enough

Towers of gold are still too little

These hands could hold the world but it’ll

Never be enough

Never be enough

Jesus has set off a dream in me, ever since I accepted Him as my Lord and Savior, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10) This promise of abundant life found only in Him is what I seek, failing a lot of the time, but an ongoing pursuit nonetheless. It is because of Jesus and what He has done that I am set free to grow and become more like Him. It is the full acceptance and love radiating from my Heavenly Father that inspires me to keep at this pursuit. It is His mark in me that sparks creativity and a desire to create and produce, not just consume. It is His love that inspires me to dream of publishing books, opening a community theater, creating short films voiced over with spoken word that declare His truth to the world. Truth regarding His love, His character, and where our true identity is found. It is His image I bear and because of that, I have a desire to be pursued, sought after – to be romanced and fall in love.  It is His creation that sings to my soul – snow-capped mountains, glittering lakes, fields painted with wildflowers – I dream of travel and adventure. It is because of my relationship with Him I know I was made to be in community – to share and experience the joys, revelations, heartache, celebrations, and struggles with others.

Can you see how all of this stems from Him? These things are all part of what going after abundant life looks like in my life. Can you see His mark? Can you see how every part echoes with His heart? The beauty of it is that He has created us all so uniquely, so passionately and carefully, that the details of how abundance plays out will look a little different for each of us. But, some things are definitely universal – community, to be known, fall in love (I would guess), and go after our passions.

What dream has He set off in you? What stirs your heart? What is something you could talk about for hours, digging deeper and deeper? Pay attention to those moments.

The next lines in this song talk about sharing this dream with the one they love, because without them:

All the shine of a thousand spotlights

All the stars we steal from the night sky

Will never be enough

Never be enough

Perhaps your dream includes making it big in music, acting, or performing. Perhaps it includes making it to the professional level in the sport you’re passionate about. Perhaps it includes making it big in the business world, leading a company of your own making. Maybe it’s about helping people hands on – through medicine, teaching, vocational ministry, etc. Somehow, it involves getting to a place where it requires all you have to give and you rise to the occasion. All eyes are on you and you know it’s where you were meant to be. The recognition, affirmation that you matter, that you’re making a difference somehow…“All the shine of a thousand spotlights, all the stars we steal from the night sky.”

But, it’s not enough. It will never be enough.

Towers of gold are still too little

These hands could hold the world but it’ll

Never be enough

You could accumulate all the riches, accolades, and admiration of family, friends, colleagues, and the general population. Dreaming really big, perhaps you wind up with that summer house by the lake, a private jet, boat, and a big old pile of money in the bank…“towers of gold are still too little.”

Let’s bring it down a bit more to reality. You gain the world, the one you’ve always dreamed of. You found that man or woman to share your life with, you’ve got a job that provides pretty well and you even enjoy going to work most of the time. You’ve got the house with the yard, a dog, and a couple of kids. Your family, while not perfect, provides joy and laughter. Your family might not have the nicest cars in the neighborhood, but you don’t want for much. There’s usually a hot meal to be shared each night, food in the fridge, and heat in the house. Family and friends aren’t too far away and your neighbors aren’t rude or impersonal…“These hands could hold the world…”

But it’ll never be enough.

The dream of finding the man to share my life with isn’t a reality yet, but I am certainly blessed with a great job, a roof over my head, a car that’s paid off, and no debt chaining me down. I’ve got close friends – both here and out of state. I have access to my own personal paradise – snuggling up in a blanket with a cup of tea and a favorite book or movie while a scented candle casts a soft glow on the walls of my basement. While it may not be as grand as owning a company, starring in plays, or shining on the athletic field, it is my own version of the world. So, when this song talks about the world, it can mean achieving all the glitz, glam, prestige, fame, and material riches, but I think it also hints at our own version of such.

What is the world to you? It could look a lot simpler – a person you love with your whole being, a family, food on the table? Maybe the perfect furry friend? Work you enjoy? Making a difference somehow? Finding somewhere you can truly belong?

You could hold it all, achieve it all, and it will never be enough.

Has there ever been a part of you, when having achieved, found, bought, or seen it all, still feels like something was missing? Even basking in your own corner of paradise, while enjoying it immensely, did some piece of it still feel a little…empty? There’s an ache, a longing for something more. This feeling is what causes us to seek after more – grander adventures, more things, a bigger house, a newer car, a better job. We think we have it all figured out, like we’ve finally arrived and yet, it’s still not enough. It doesn’t fully satisfy. So we keep going and pursuing to try and get to this place, this world where we’re finally happy, full, and in control. I love that this song speaks of that pursuit and without actually getting there, knows it will never be enough without that someone.

For me, that someone is Jesus. For you, brother or sister, I hope that someone is Jesus. For the world, though you may not know it or recognize it yet, that someone is Jesus.

“For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” Mark 8:36

“Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’” John 4:13-14

Only He satisfies.

“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Psalm 16:11

Only in Him can true joy and life be found.

“And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.” Isaiah 58:11

Only in Him can you be filled up to pour out.

None of it is enough without Him. I could publish all the books, fall madly in love, start a community theater, travel the world, and have not one, but two precious dogs. I could start a family, never worry about money again, have a little stone cottage in the middle of nowhere by a lake to watch the sun rise and set every single night…and it wouldn’t be enough without Him. None if it would matter! Without Jesus, without my Father, without the daily guidance of the Holy Spirit in me, what does any of it matter? He is my source, my guide, my very life. Only He can satisfy.

Only in Him is true, abundant life found.

“There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of each person which cannot be satisfied by any created thing, but only by God the Creator, made known through Jesus Christ.” -Blaise Pascal

“Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.” Psalm 73:25

I now ask you to listen to this song again. Then, I challenge you to think about the world you’re in, what your life looks like, what dreams you have – some lived out, some still unrealized. Truly, go deep into the core of your heart and soul and ask yourself, honestly:

Is it enough?

Listen: “Never Enough” performed by Loren Allred, original songs by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul

Up Next: “Rewrite the Stars”