The Eternal Spark Within

Many years ago, while visiting an old graveyard in South Carolina, I had an epiphany that has haunted me ever since. 

I can't remember why I was there, or even where the graveyard is, which is a by-product of getting older, I suppose.  However, the memory of that moment remains vivid.  

I was standing and surveying the graveyard while the relatives I was with walked around, when I looked down and realized I was standing over a headstone that had been embedded in the ground and had become completely overgrown by the surrounding grass.  

It took me a bit to pull the grass away and brush the dirt off the stone, but when I did, I saw these words clearly: "Gone But Not Forgotten."  

I've thought about that gravestone often over the years since then.  Aside from the irony of the whole thing, there was something that resonated with me about it.  I even wrote a poem about the moment. I may share it one day.  

We will all be forgotten at some point, once enough time passes after we are gone.  But there is more for us on the other side of whatever reality that we know.  We are more than the dust we return to, even though there is a strange beauty in that. 

Thornton Wilder once wrote in his classic play Our Town:

“We all know that something is eternal. And it ain’t houses and it ain’t names, and it ain’t earth, and it ain’t even the stars . . . everybody knows in their bones that something is eternal, and that something has to do with human beings. All the greatest people ever lived have been telling us that for five thousand years and yet you’d be surprised how people are always losing hold of it. There’s something way down deep that’s eternal about every human being.”

So often we move through our days unaware of this eternal truth. We see our flaws, failures, and fears more clearly than we see the spark of the Divine that has been woven into our very being. 

Scripture reminds us that we are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), which means that each person carries within themselves a reflection of God’s beauty, power, and creativity. That spark does not disappear when life gets messy. It does not fade when we feel unworthy. It remains—burning quietly, waiting to be noticed.

Jesus echoed this truth when He declared, “The kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). The eternal is not something we must travel across the world to find; it is something that already lives within us. 

Wilder’s words remind us of how easy it is to “lose hold of it,” to forget that we are more than the sum of our worries, our possessions, or even our names. There is something in us that cannot be reduced to dust.

Paul captures this in 2 Corinthians 4:7: “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” We may feel fragile like clay, but within us is treasure—eternal light that no darkness can overcome.

Beloved, remember today: you are not ordinary. You are not disposable. The Divine spark lives within you, and it is eternal. Hold onto it, cherish it, and let it shine in the way you love, create, forgive, and hope.

Prayer: 

Holy God, thank You for placing Your eternal spark within me. Help me to see myself and others as bearers of Your image. When I forget who I am, remind me of the treasure within. May I live in such a way that Your light shines through me. Amen.

Reflection Questions

1. When was the last time you truly felt aware of God’s image within you?

2. What practices could help you notice and nurture the Divine spark in your daily life?

3. How might remembering that every person carries this eternal spark change the way you treat others?