'Til you wise up

Sometimes things just come together in a way that makes you step back and...exhale. A beautiful painting, a moment in a song, something that causes you to think, "everything just happened right." Maybe it was the day they had. Maybe they just found love, or perhaps it's escaped them once again. But once in a while you'll see something. A culmination of so many other things coming together at just the right point to create something that moves you.

It happened again for me recently while watching a film I've seen over 5 times now. P.T. Anderson's, Magnolia. Some of you have seen it, and hate it. Some of you have seen it, and love it. If you've never seen it, I simply suggest that you do. It's raw, it's real, it's weird, and amazing.

Tom Cruise gives an oscar nominated performance as a motivational guru full of himself. In the moment of his career a scene that stops every muscle in your body, Cruise sits at the bedside of his dying and estranged father. He breaks, and in those few moments you see the "coming together" moment, where everything seems to stop and stand at attention to what's just taken place.

As the film progress' in classic P.T. Anderson, with his usual cast of characters, the haunting vocals of Aimee Mann connect the lives of these characters through song. The genius of this scene however is that each and every character joins in the song as it cuts from shot to shot.

Artists describe the moment as the universe standing still and in the gap they create something that benefits the world. Beauty and art accomplish that for us. In an instant, through a film or a painting, a song or a book, we tap into something bigger than us, something larger than we could ever imagine. It's a result of us being created in the image of God, and in those moments where it all comes together, we sit...

still.

"You're sure
There's a cure
And you have finally found it
You think
One drink
Will shrink you 'til you're underground
And living down
But it's not going to stop
It's not going to stop
It's not going to stop
'Til you wise up"