"Honestly, it's time for honesty."

I recently watched "Grace Unplugged".  A cheesy-Christian movie, but the perfectly-crystal clear message.  All you fans of Aly & AJ from the prime Disney days, none other than the lovely AJ Michalka is the main character(!!!!), Grace, chasing after her dreams of becoming a pop star in defiance of her dad and her position on his worship team.  In the end (spoiler alert), she unsurprisingly comes back to her parents, having learned the hard way on her own why the stardom she was searching for was meaningless and destructive to her faith.  She struggles throughout the entire movie to write a song, having trouble forming words to what exactly she is feeling and working through what she believes.  The song she is finally able to write about her journey is entitled "All I've Ever Needed" and has simple, yet powerful words.
So despite all the cheesiness, I was able to pick out the beautifully inspiring message embedded, not to mention, watching the movie with my own Father was extra special.
Here are the lyrics to the song:

While I usually prefer more artistically ambiguous music (like "Saturn" by Sleeping At Last), there is something boldly simplistic about these lyrics that reminds me a lot of Ecclesiastes. "Meaningless, meaningless all under the sun is meaningless" is the basic gist of this radical book of the Bible.

What is there to enjoy in the world that isn't ultimately harmful to our souls due to our sinful nature? How do we find balance, how do we find a gracious pace to enjoying things and developing a healthy relationship to the things of this world? A little more on this can be found in my previous post.  What Aly is saying in these lyrics is something that has been so prevalent in my life journey, that it seems this lesson is inherent and bound to be learned in the journeys of many.  We see God and the everlasting life he offers, and though we may have already said "yes" to Him, we put him in the glove compartment and drive to the destination of temporarily satisfying our own fleeting desires.  "Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll".  "Eat, Drink, and Be Merry". 

There has to be more to this life.

Back to finding meaning and my own journey, I have always felt that God has worked through people and experiences to reveal to me my own pride.  I will eventually delve deeper into this in a future post, but it is such a beautiful testament to His ongoing faithfulness and an example of His own humility that He would continue to show me ways and circumstances that I can die to myself (Luke 9:23) and follow a bigger plan-beyond this flash of my own life and shifting perspective in the bigger picture of all time, existence and all creation.  Because at the end of the day, we don't need things, we don't need happiness, all we need is to know the most is that we are Loved constantly, unconditionally, and nothing we could ever do could tamper with that refreshing fact.  And amongst all the uncertainty of life, there is a place we can turn for never-ending comfort, assurance, and security.  And that is the One Thing I will boast of forever.  

Did you see "Grace Unplugged"? Did you like this post? What about it do you agree/disagree with? What can I improve on? I would love to know your thoughts! (feel free to leave a comment below)

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