Sparks for You #1

Over on Facebook—from May 1, 2023 through April 30, 2024—I took great joy in cultivating Your Daily Spark. Inspired by my friend Daniel Richards to undertake that endeavor (he asked folks to share “sparks” at the beginning of work meetings), I committed to doing that every day for one year. That involved lovingly gathering quotations from poetry, literature, film, philosophy, psychology, and self-improvement books that filled me with wonder, joy, and motivation. I paired each quotation with fitting photographs or paintings that I thought captured the essence of the ideas conveyed.

Photo by Morgan Sessions on Unsplash

Here, these Sparks will be occasional rather than daily. I plan to draw from that year’s well of quotations as well as include new ones I come across. In each case, the Spark will now include:

• A carefully selected quotation

• A carefully selected image I think reflects that quotation’s core idea

• A brief paragraph or two with my own gloss on the selected quotation

My hope is that some of these gems will serve as Sparks for You. With that introduction, let the joy begin!

“It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo, the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn’t want to know the end because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad has happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing this shadow, even darkness must pass. A new day will come, and when the sun shines, it’ll shine out the clearer. Those are the stories that stay with you and meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going because they were holding on to something. . . . That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it’s worth fighting for.”

—Samwise Gamgee, The Two Towers [film version]

Hearing Samwise utter these words in the film never fails to bring tears to my eyes. He and Frodo have been through so much. And they have done it together, taking one more step when it seemed impossible to do so. Two points stand out most for me: friendship and choice.

Sam loves his best friend, Frodo. The value of this friendship gives Sam the motivation to move mountains—and to cross the most dangerous ones—on their journey to Mount Doom. Achieving values makes all the difficult, dangerous work worth it.

No matter how bad things might seem, do not give up when your values are at stake. One person and one person’s choice matter and can make a difference. That might not be a world-saving difference (though it could be), but it can make a world of difference for your life and those who you treasure.

Image created by JesseDaoust in imgflip

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