I watched Obsession recently, and it was actually pretty good.

Fortunately, I’m not a busy minister, so I have time to watch movies. 😄

The film starts with a seemingly simple wish: a man wants the woman he loves to love him more than anyone else in the world.

And she does.

That is when everything goes horribly wrong.

It is a very literal reminder to be careful what you wish for. We tend to imagine the fulfilment of a desire, but not what it might cost us, demand from us, or become when taken to its logical extreme.

It also brought Luke 12:34 to mind:

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
We often read “treasure” as money, but it can also mean our career, status, ambitions, relationships, hobbies, side projects, or even our Netflix queue.

Whatever receives our time, attention and emotional energy slowly shapes what our heart values.

Getting laid off earlier this year disrupted a lot of things, but it also forced me to notice where my focus naturally returned when work was no longer occupying most of my headspace.

My family.
The things I enjoy making and teaching.
Board games, kite flying, cooking, and, apparently, quite a lot of movies.
Ideas I had postponed because I was always too busy being “productive.”

Strangely, distance has also filtered out much of the unpleasantness of work. The frustrations, pressure and difficult moments have faded, leaving mostly fond memories of the work itself and of the colleagues I was fortunate enough to work with.

Perhaps that is another form of treasure: the parts of an experience that remain after the noise has fallen away.

Losing a job can feel like losing part of your identity. But it can also reveal which parts were merely your occupation, which parts you genuinely valued, and where your heart goes when it is finally given room to wander.

Of course, the lesson is not that every desire should be pursued.

Obsession makes that very clear.

The harder questions are:

What do I want so badly that I might not recognise the cost of getting it?

And:

What do I already treasure that I have been too distracted to notice?

That thought has inspired a small project I’m building.

A wishing app that asks only one question:

What is your heart’s true desire?

You can answer completely anonymously.

Or you can sign in through social media and choose to let me know who you are.

No likes.
No follower counts.
No algorithm telling you what you should want.

Just one honest answer.

Maybe naming what we truly want helps us understand where our treasure already is—and where our hearts may be heading.

So, what is your heart’s true desire?

And perhaps more importantly:

Are you prepared for it to come true, whatever the cost?