It's Show Time

27 February, 2015

I am a movie buff. There's nothing I like better than turning on my family's new gas-burning fireplace, frying up some stove-top popcorn with a little olive oil and sea salt, and curling up on my LoveSac couch in a heap of fuzzy blankets and pillows. With candles lit. And garlic edamame. And a glass of wine. Oh yes.

Two weekends ago, Valentines weekend, meant one thing: an overwhelming list of opening blockbusters. Being the movie enthusiast I am, I was obviously interested. But, pulling up the Rotten Tomatoes app on my iPhone to see the local theater's lineup, I was far from thrilled.

As a hopeless romantic, I love a good love story. Boy meets girl, boy marries girl, boy and girl live happily ever after... I eat it up! The recent movies in theaters, however, do not illustrate love. They replace hard-earned, forever and always, grow-old-together love with cheap, one-night-stand, doomed-for-failure lust.

It's easy to watch the latest movies thinking no harm is being done to your thought process on love and life. For instance, lots of my girlfriends went to see 50 Shades of Grey, of which I was almost dragged along - twice. But, I had to stop and think: Would this movie be beneficial for me to see? Or would it confuse me about how I should live my life?

Real love is not fantasizing over a man who treats you as a sex object. Real love means waiting for the right person, someone who would give their life for you, someone with a heart of gold and their eyes on Christ. Real love means trusting in God's plan for the both of you as a couple, knowing you'll do great things for God and for others.

Hollywood knows how to sell tickets. Scandal sells. Sex sells. Infidelity sells. But, I advise you (as well as myself) not to sell yourself short.

Be smart about time management. Be smart about the movies you watch. Just because "everyone's talking about it" doesn't mean you have to buy a ticket too, friend. Swim upstream, stand up for what you believe in, and don't allow Hollywood to brainwash you from what you know is right.