What’s Your Goo-Ga?
What is that thing that really captures your attention, focus, effort, passion, and pursuit? Is it your career, your love life, your notoriety? Something else? Where do relationships, life-giving, soul-nurturing, other-centered relationships fit in? This is the question for Eddie Murphy in his new movie “Imagine That”.
The overarching message of the movie, the one that sticks, in a surprisingly profound way for a Murphy flick, is the theme of relationships, family. In the movie, Eddie plays a career obsessed, money hungry, and advancement crazed money manager whose sole focus is the next big deal, the next move up. Lost in the shuffle, somewhere along the way, is the opportunity to experience the benefits of a rich family life, and the gift of knowing and loving his daughter. His marriage, already having dissolved, and his contact with his young daughter limited, his life has become flashy, but utterly void of meaningful identity. Even to his company, he is only as good as the last deal.
As Mr. Murphy is forced into caring for his daughter, due to the parental custody sharing agreements, he finds himself in a real pickle. Problem is, his daughter could not be coming around at a worse time for him. With big deals in the works, and a possible huge promotion at stake, he views his time with his daughter as a forced obligation at best, and more accurately an obstacle to his goals. Until, that is, he realizes she owns a magic blanket (her “goo-ga”) which brings an imaginary world into view for her, one in which he finds a queen and princess who are able to tell him exactly which stocks to pick for his client’s portfolios! Suddenly, his forced parental obligations have rewards for him, and he becomes psychotically driven by the powers and privileges of the goo-ga.
Along the way, however, what Mr. Murphy does not see happening is that the goo-ga’s greater powers lie in it’s ability to bring he and his daughter into meaningful relationship for the first time. As his big deals and bigger promotion get fouled up by his addiction to the blanket he nearly wrecks the relationship with his daughter which is blooming for the first time. Amidst a desperate attempt to call forth “one last” big deal in order to secure the top leadership position in the company, Murphy has an epiphany. As he is seated before the owner of the firm, just at the moment everything is being handed to him, he begins to replay the recent moments with his daughter in his mind. His “come to Jesus” moment takes place just as the owner of the company is a sentence or two away from saying, “Its all yours.”, and as he is reaching into his briefcase and happens upon the goo-ga which had brought him to this moment.
At that instant, realizing he has missed the power of the goo-ga altogether, and finally measuring the nature of his “wealth” realistically, he stands up, looks his future in the eye and says, “I can’t do this…I have to be somewhere else.” The revelation of his true treasure has transformed him, and just in time. As he touched that blanket in his briefcase, a new tool which had a dramatically different feel than the hard-bound portfolios which his hands were accustomed to embracing, he remembered not the deals the blanket had won, but the enormous satisfaction the blanket had given him in the context of relationship for the first time in his life.
Scrambling from the meeting and making his way through the city, driving like, well, like I drive too often, and hurrying to make it to his daughter’s play, the transformation of his passion and pursuit could not be more vivid. Walking into the auditorium just as his daughter’s heart is breaking in two because he is not there, and knowing he chose the business meeting over her, he walks in with a makeshift king’s costume made from supplies at his office and his once pristine business suit, and he scores a big win. Her heart leaps for joy, she has renewed confidence in her role, and both lives are renewed in the process.
In the end, the goo-ga, the security Murphy’s daughter could not possibly do without, is joyfully relinquished by her. In that very same moment, Mr. Murphy, who had become equally dependent upon the blanket and its powers, let’s it go as well. The two, together, had found there real goo-ga, each other, for the first time.
So, I ask you today, what’s your goo-ga? Does it lead you to heart enlarging, relationship inspiring, and difference making pursuits? Have you yet discovered that what makes life truly rewarding is that which contributes to the love, growth, and nurturing of others? Or have you sacrificed enduring love and meaningful life for pleasure, riches, advancement, or some other agenda? What, or who is your goo-ga?
In Christ, we find our perspective, our priorities, truest passion, and deepest pleasure. He is the only goo-ga worthy of your soul. Find your security in Him. In so doing, you will find, unfolding before your eyes, the living reality of that story you always wished you could write for your life. Are you ready? Imagine that!
Get your goo-ga on! (Say that word five times…it feels really good :) )
Bruce Smith
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