Something Old, Something Borrowed

It's 2:18 AM. Maybe it's a sign that I really am the overthinker that I suspected, but my mind and heart are filled with questions and thoughts. I could probably sleep if I tried, but I just figured I'd write down my musings to get them out. Since it's quicker to type and my journal is nowhere near, you will have to bear with me here. Here are just a few of my thoughts:

I long to see something new and beautiful. Something truly innovative and novel. True creativity. Purpose to the things I see. Yet, I wonder if it's really out there. Is there anything truly original left in the world?

I was watching some indie films online, and it made me want to do something incredible. As impractical as the notion may be at 2 am, they inspired me to find or create something beautiful and to inspire others, as well. [Don't worry. I'll settle with a blog this morning.] What is inspiration, though? What is impact?

In the world of Hollywood, Nashville, Youtube, and Bollywood, impact is stored in videos or a song or some form of text for a little while. For the rest of us, it's the same, but differently recorded. It's our friends' memories or photos, not short films. It's emails, not articles. It's conversations, not songs. Either way, all of these seemingly huge things get lost in time. Even highly esteemed or great people get lost in time. Then, does anything last forever? What is eternal?

Eternity is not in an empire of money, a name, or even family ties. All of these things end before long. To steal from King Soloman, a great philosopher, it's all "vanities of vanities" eventually. Then, what's the point? Is there anything worthwhile and lasting? The only thing that will last is what has always been and always will be: God Himself and the kingdom He's building.

Everything begins with Him, points to Him, and leads to Him. That sounds selfish on His part, but what else is greater to be consumed by? Of course we, the created, were made to draw everything from the Creator. If we could draw from anything else, He wouldn't be the truly creative one. If He pointed us to anything but Himself, He wouldn't be kind. He would be pointing us to second-best. If the Beatles had one thing right, it was this statement: "All we need is love." But where do we find it? Well, it's God Himself. He is our definition of Love. Moreover, God is, by definition, the best for all mankind. If He weren't the best, then He would cease to be God.

When I look at the world, at art, and at all mankind has [constructively] accomplished, I see just a group of children, running around and playing pretend. We credit ourselves and are so proud of what we "create." However, we really only steal and rework previous ideas. We're shadow people pretending to be real. We are created in the image of God, yet we think we ARE God. We think we are novel, but we're not.

Just take a look at movies, for example. They are mostly re-told tales or reworked films that were once popular, then forgotten. There is nothing novel and nothing purely new apart from what God is continually making. He does it day, even. Each sunrise: an original painting. Each snowflake: a new pattern. Each human being: unique. And here we are, taking each others' philosophies, words, images, even personalities and claiming them as our own. Hilarious.