I saw the sun begin to dim
And felt that winter wind
Blow cold
We’ve all traveled the valley of despair and disappointment. We’ve all felt the pain of loss and unrealized dreams. In The Greatest Showman, Phineas Taylor Barnum lost his business, his fortune, and nearly his family—the winter wind had blown cold. He tried to drown his sorrows with alcohol, sitting alone in a bar. He looked back on his life with regret over misplaced priorities. After a promising start, the sun was dimming on his horizon.
Like P.T. Barnum, Solomon spent time in the valley. Near the end of his life, he looked back on his life with considerable regret. He literally had it all—fame, fortune, riches, pleasures, palaces, women, servants, food and wine. He had a means to every end. During his life, no desire went unmet. He looked back on it all in his quasi-diary, the book of Ecclesiastes. He summed it up in Ecclesiastes 1:2 with, “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” All the things he had chased after—all the things that were supposed to bring him happiness—were meaningless. In chapter 2, verse 11, Solomon describes his pursuits as “a chasing after the wind.”
How will your end-of-life diary read? What are you chasing after?
A man learns who is there for him
When the glitter fades and the walls won’t hold
So true. When you’ve lost power, authority, and influence, who sticks with you? When the walls of life start to crumble around you, who is there to help you hold them up? When you’ve made a mess of your life, who is there to help you clean it up?
In The Greatest Showman, P.T. Barnum’s band of misfits show up at the bar and offer words of encouragement. He was there for them when even their own mothers rejected them for looking different. Now they are there for him and will help him rebuild and start over. They offer their friendship, support, and a glimmer of hope.
In the Garden of Gethsemane and later at the cross, Jesus learned who was there for him. No one. His closest followers slept while he prayed in agony. They denied him and scattered like cowards. No one had his back. No one. He bore the cross alone.
In the way you live your life, do you have Jesus’ back?
Cause from then, rubble
What remains
Can only be what’s true
What remains is what’s true. P.T. Barnum’s friends and family remained and were true. His dreams of making a difference in the world through entertainment were shattered and yet somehow remained. They, too, were true.
From the rubble and shame of Christ’s crucifixion, He remained. In fact, He rose again on the third day! He suffered—but remains. He bore our sins—yet remains. He agonized and cried out—but still remains. What remains…can only be what’s true. Christ remains. Christ is truth.
When you take away the passing fancies and rubble of your life, what will remain? Are you chasing truth, or chasing after the wind?
If all was lost
There’s more I gained
Cause it led me back
To you
P.T. Barnum’s suffering and loss ironically resulted in gain. His misfortune made him realize his priorities were all wrong. At the altar of fame and fortune, he had sacrificed family and friends. Ultimately, through tragedy, he’s led back to his family. Near the end of the film, he’s seen for the first time at his daughters’ dance recital. The picture of a man with properly placed priorities is a beautiful thing.
In 2 Chronicles 7:14, God tells Solomon, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” The people had rejected God and lived for themselves. Still, God was willing to forgive them and give them a fresh start. God still offers that today.
Do you need a fresh start? Do you need to return to God?
From now on
These eyes will not be blinded by the lights
From now on
What’s waited till tomorrow starts tonight
Tonight
P.T. Barnum had a life-changing epiphany. He had been blinded by fame and fortune. It was time for a change. Not eventually. Not after the next show. Not once everything was figured out. The change would begin immediately. His new way of thinking and living would start tonight. People would notice a difference in him…from now on.
Repentance does that to a person. When God and religion go from the abstract to the real, your world is turned upside down—for the better. Things that used to mean so much—wealth, possessions, rank, and popularity—start to fade into the background. You start to get what Jesus had in mind when he said, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” (Luke 12:15) Once you realize your predicament without God and your need for God, you’ll want to become a Christian…immediately. The change must start tonight. I must live for God…from now on.
Let this promise in me start
Like an anthem in my heart
From now on
From now on
This is my favorite phrase in the song. Barnum is promising to do better—to be better. That change will be noticeable to everyone around him going forward. How noticeable? Like an anthem in his heart. An anthem is “a rousing or uplifting song identified with a particular group, body, or cause.” In Barnum’s case, there would plenty of rousing songs—The Greatest Showman soundtrack is full of them. More importantly, his “anthem” was about a cause within. It will emanate from his heart and his family and friends will see it in him.
Christians believe in God’s promises. We trust that God will follow through with what He has said He will do. The main promise—eternal life—should be on the surface of our lips and buried deep within our hearts. Heaven is something we think about, dream about, talk about, and sing about. We can’t approach our eternal destiny any other way.
What promise do you trust in? What anthem is on your heart?
I drank champagne with kings and queens
The politicians praised my name
But those are someone else’s dreams
The pitfalls of the man I became
Barnum had “hobnobbed with the big wigs at the wing dings,” as the saying goes. He could name drop with the best of them. His mantel was lined with photos of himself and celebrities. He began to assess his value based on who he knew rather than who he was. He calls that way of thinking “pitfalls.” Solomon would have called it “utterly meaningless.”
I’ve been there. I’m patriotic and proud of my military career, but I don’t miss the over-emphasis on rank and privilege. While there are some practical reasons for wearing one’s rank on the uniform, few professions do that. Our rank determined our pay, our responsibilities, how we were addressed, the size of our office, where we sat at the table, and sometimes even where we parked our cars. In some uniforms, we also wore our medals and ribbons. Thankfully, most professions don’t do that. We were promoted based on our potential, but it didn’t hurt to “drink champagne” with kings and queens—or the right general officer. The farther removed I am from that life, the more aspects of it seem, well, meaningless.
Do you worry more about who you know than who you are? Is it more important to look outwardly successful on social media than to actually be successful in God’s eyes?
For years and years
I chased their cheers
The crazy speed of always needing more
But when I stop
And see you here
I remember who all this was for
Barnum admits to having gotten caught up in the “crazy speed of always needing more.” He had to be not just a successful businessman, but the best entertainer in the world. To prove his father-in-law wrong, he had to purchase the trophy house. He chased the cheers of the crowds, his family, and his friends. He finally realized that each new possession or accomplishment simply led to him wanting more. Whatever he had, it was “Never Enough”—another inspiring song on The Greatest Showman soundtrack.
Are you caught up in the crazy speed of always wanting more? How would our lives be different if we were satisfied with what we had?
And from now on
These eyes will not be blinded by the lights
From now on
What’s waited till tomorrow starts tonight
It starts tonight
And let this promise in me start
Like an anthem in my heart
From now on
From now on
From now on
And we will come back home
And we will come back home
Home, again!
The song concludes with Barnum and his posse of peculiar people chanting, “And we will come back home…And we will come back home…Home, again!” With his priorities straight, he celebrates returning home. To the new and improved Barnum, home includes a wife who loves him, daughters who need him, and friends who admire him for who he is as a person. More than just figurative language, Barnum leaves the circus he created to his partner and returns home to be with his family.
From the Bearded Lady to the Irish Giant, Barnum’s band of outcasts also return “home” to a circus where they can find peace and be among people who love them for who they are. The Bearded Lady’s song, “This is Me,” is another rousing anthem about overcoming insults and being proud of who you are. In the circus, she found acceptance. She found home.
As much as I loved going to summer camp as a kid, I always enjoyed returning to the comforts of home. As much as I enjoyed going off to college, there was something special about returning home to see my family. As much as hiking the Appalachian Trail meant to me and changed me, I couldn’t wait to get home to be reunited with my wife.
For Christians, this world is not our home—we’re just passing through. As much as we love our families, friends, and the many ways we’re blessed here on earth, this isn’t the end game. It’s temporary. It’s passing. Much of it is “utterly meaningless.” For true meaning, we return to Solomon’s diary, and find, “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13)
If we do that, from now on…before we know it, we’ll be home—home again!
