I’m currently watching the Oscars. This happens every year about this time. Award nights come around and I typically don’t care. But then I catch a glimpse of one award or one actress and I’m hooked. For the next three hours I’m cheering for these people as if I’m obsessed with their music or movies and talking to them like their my best friends. To a TV!! They can’t even hear me. They won’t see my tweets. The only other person hearing me is a family member if they happen to be in the room. What is this?!
I’m not one of those people who read tabloids and follow celebrities in the news. I typically don’t care. I follow their movies and occasionally hear about their lives from friends and am mildly interested. I don’t try to know them, but when award nights come around suddenly I’m all about their lives. When the Grammy’s were on a few weeks ago, Fun. and I were best friends, as if I’ve been following their band for years. I haven’t. I sort of jumped on that band wagon this past Fall. So why do I get so invested in these people in one night?
Movie stars seem to be a bit different because they play a person we can relate to or we can see small clips of their lives and in our minds we relate. We pretend we know these people. George Clooney and I have been tight ever since I watched him every Thursday night on ER when I was five, and Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner have been a favorite couple since Ben was in Voyage of the Mimi which we watched in 6th grade science class. But to say that I know them or anything about their lives is dumb.
Does anyone else find themselves starstruck with awards? A few thoughts on why we do this and what I learned from the Oscar’s tonight:
1. We all have a huge desire to be known. We view these stars as people to strive to be like, and somehow think that if we know about these stars we will be known too. We want to be like them because everyone “knows” them, and we long to be known as well. Is that so bad? Well, no. God created us with a desire to be fully known by Him and that was broken with sin. There’s a pit there. So we fill our lives, our pits, with things that will make us known. We chase stars, boy bands, even the star football player at school. We surround ourselves with people who will know us and we put ourselves out there. This isn’t necessarily bad, but only if we are filling our pit completely with God first. We talk to Him, listen to Him, read what He tells us. And then we can relate to other people and be known by them. We know God and we know people. Real people; not those who we pretend to know through a TV screen.
2. Be in the moment. One reason I want to know Ben Affleck was the contagiousness of his full presence. As he was accepting his Oscar for Argo winning best film, he was all there. Through that TV screen, I could tell he was absorbing being there, with those people, in that place, experiencing those emotions. He was fully present. How many times do I go through my day so busy that I miss out on the moment I’m in because I’m planning or thinking about the moments to come? And then when those moments come, I’m not fully there either because I’ve already moved on to the next. God gives us an exact amount of time, and what we choose to do with it defines our lives. We collect the moments so that our lives have meaning and are full. If we pass through each of our moments without absorbing them, they are not collected and they scatter – missed.
3. Life is not about me. Seth MacFarlane, who hosted the Oscars may have made some crude comments, but I felt that he did a fabulous job hosting. He made the evening flow, was brief yet funny, and most importantly made the night about the films. Most hosts/hostesses make the evenings about how great they are or all about how great their lives are; their jokes are at the expense of someone else. But Seth did not do that. He made jokes, but they were turned on him or the moment happening. No one left embarrassed. He wasn’t perfect, and I didn’t see the entire show, but from the majority of what I saw I was impressed. This just reminds me not to make situations about me. There is a time and place, but we don’t need to butt in to conversations or turn situations into “The Brittany Show.” No one wants that. In conversation, make sure you’re not monopolizing. James tells us to be quick to listen, slow to speak… Life is not about us. It’s about bringing glory to the Kingdom of God.
4. Embrace the lessons of the character whose story we’re telling. We’re all telling a story. By the words we say, the actions we do, even our thoughts. Each moment collects and tells a story, making up the whole of our lives. According to the previous point, life isn’t about me, therefore I’m not telling my own personal story. I’m telling the story of God working in my life; it’s His story not mine. Anne Hathaway taught me this lesson tonight. She gracefully accepted the well-deserved award for her performance in Les Mis. She gave a lovely speech and ended it with “Here’s hoping someday in the not-too-distant future the misfortunes of Fantine will be only found in fiction and not in real life.” #Classy! Listening to that really made me think of the story I’m telling and learning from. Anne told the story of Fantine’s misfortunes, but we get to tell a happier story. One of life and hope. Unlike Fantine, in the end Christ wins! This is what shapes us and what molds how we live so that we’re telling it. We’re telling of His work in our lives. We also get to learn from the stories of others and allow that to shape us a little bit. We can allow the story that we’re telling to become bitter and callous or open to compassion and love. What story am I telling? Let’s embrace the story of hope, of holiness, and joy. And may our lives tell His story and not ours.
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