What Christian Writers Can Learn From The Greatest Showman

My husband and I went to see The Greatest Showman and I LOVED it. My husband asked me what I liked about it so much and I couldn’t put my finger on it. “So many things,” was all I could say. I’ve been listening to the soundtrack every day since.

But I’ve been thinking more and more about what I loved about the movie and I realized it has so many messages that encourages me personally as a Christian writer and blogger. Here’s my top five themes I gleaned from the movie for the Christian writer:

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We Need to Follow The Writing Dream in our Heart/Head

P.T. Barnum could not let go of all those dreams in his head. They kept him awake at night. And I can relate to that feeling. When God gives you a dream, a message to share with the world, it can keep you awake at night. It can fill your thoughts and we can either follow them, as P.T. Barnum did, or try and stay in our familiar safe place, like Phillip Carlyle wanted to do, until P.T. Barnum convinced him to step out and follow him.

God placed that dream in our heart. We need to be obedient to follow it.

Related Songs from the Soundtrack: The Greatest Show, A Million Dreams, Come Alive, Tightrope, The Other Side

We Need A Writing Community

Barnum needed his wife’s support as he took huge risks to follow his dreams. She was wholeheartedly willing to join him in his dreams. The band of misfits also created their own community, finally finding a place where they could belong and be themselves, where they felt at home in the circus.

As we too take risks with our blog, we need someone to come alongside us. A supportive spouse or friend or mentor can do wonders for helping us on this journey. And a community of like-minded bloggers to encourage us is also very important to encourage us to keep going forward and make us not feel like we’re so alone in our own blogging worlds. My personal favorite online community for Christian writers is Hope* Writers. (By the way, they have this awesome quiz to help you figure out where you are on your writing journey and the next step you should take.)

Related Songs: A Million Dreams, The Other Side, Never Enough, Tightrope, Rewrite the Stars

We Need to Align Our Priorities with God’s

P.T. Barnum got distracted by fame and money and forgot about the people he was trying to serve. He neglected his group of misfits he himself had put together, his audience that he had simply wanted to make happy, and his family he loved dearly. As his wife told him, “You don’t need the whole world to love you. Just a few good people.” Once he realized his mistake, he was repentant and ready to focus again on serving and loving the people around him.

We too can get distracted by blogging expenses and income and email lists and numbers of followers and likes and comments and retweets and repins. We need to ensure that God comes first. Then our family. Then the ministries God has called us to, including writing.

Related Songs: Never Enough, From Now On

We Need to Be True to Ourselves

So many characters in The Greatest Showman decided to forget about what society expected of them, and be true to themselves and their own gifts and passions and dreams. They were not ashamed to be who they were created to be and sing a touching song proudly declaring “This is Me”.

P.T. Barnum says “No one ever made a difference by being like everyone else.”

It’s easy to compare ourselves and our blogs to others. To feel like we don’t measure up. Or to feel like we have to do what society expects us to do. Or to feel afraid to be vulnerable and share who we really are with others in real life and in our blogs. We need to be true to who God made us to be. We need to be true to the stories and messages that God has given to us to share with others.

Related Songs: Come Alive, This is Me

We Need to Surrender Our Writing to God

There are several characters in this movie that took a risk, a step of faith, a step outside of the norm. Jenny Lind sings a beautiful song called “Never Enough” which when I first heard it I thought she was being selfish about always wanting more. But once I read the lyrics I realized she was singing that she would never be enough without someone in particular being with her.

That someone is God. No matter how much time and energy we invest in our blogs, if we’re not blogging with God, it’ll never be enough. We must spend time with God, pray over our writing and its ministry to others, and be obedient to His direction for our blog. God wants to be invited into our writing journey.

Related Songs: Never Enough, From Now On, Tightrope

What did you think of The Greatest Showman? How does it inspire you to reach your blogging dreams?