4 minute read
RED CARPET READY
Too Many Options!
by DeAnn Alaine
We have officially started the film festival season. Say that ten times fast, “Film festival season, film festival season, film fest…”! There are so many categories that one person with one film or TV show can enter, such as best feature film, best musical score, best TV series, best actor, best actress, best animated film—the list goes on and on.
With all the choices, it’s difficult to consider which one I should choose. It’s kind of obvious that Fade Away, my sitcom, isn’t going to be entered for best feature film. But when it comes to the rest of the options, it can be a bit daunting, not to mention expensive.
Sometimes, having too many options can slow me down or even stop me from choosing something I know I’ll appreciate or enjoy. Like pudding. Should I choose warm, chilled, homemade, store-bought, vanilla, butterscotch, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, or layered pudding? There are so many options. So if I’m at the store, I walk away (okay, rarely) without any pudding in my basket just to avoid standing for ten more minutes in the aisle. That’s just sad!
Life happens to all of us. How long has it been since you went through a situation with so many emotions going on at the same time that all you could do was just cry or even the laugh/cry combo? When I was a teenager, we were living in Seoul, South Korea, and our family adopted two more teenagers. Several years later, my younger brother died. One of his wishes was to have his ashes returned to Korea.
So, there was my mama at the post office with my brother in a small box. The man at the counter started asking, “Ma’am, would you like to insure the contents of your package”? As my mama nodded her head yes, the assistant continued, “Can you tell me the contents of your package?”
Now tears were streaming down my mother’s face as she was trying to say, “My son.”
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. (GALATIANS 5:22-23 NIV)
Then, a gentle game of tug-o-war started between them. With my brother in her hands, the assistant started to tug on the package; then Mama would tug back; then he would tug again; then she pulled even harder until he realized she wasn’t ready to let my little bro go! I’d never seen a Korean tug-o-war before! They both ended up laughing and crying hysterically seeing the sobering reality of what onlookers were observing.
Can you imagine when my mama tells this very nice guy, “My son is really in the box,” and that guy looking over his shoulder at an America’s Most Wanted poster with my beautiful mom’s face on it? I digress.
Too many options for emotions. Too many options for food. Too many options of streaming platforms. TOO MANY OPTIONS!!!
Where can I go for the answer to so many options? The Bible! It has every perfect answer. For instance, what if I need to know the signs and symptoms of menopause? My strength has dried up like sunbaked clay. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You have laid me in the dust and left me for dead (Psalm 22:15 NLT). Just kidding!!!
Seriously, though. What to do when my emotions want to run amuck? But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law (Galatians 5:22-23 NIV). What about when my mind wants to trouble me? And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise (Philippians 4:8 NLT).
Reading and memorizing the Word of God provides answers when we have too many options. Get in it, eat it, hmmm, I’m hungry! I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world (John 6:51 NIV).
Don’t let “too many options” keep you from taking the next step. Go to His Word, stay in His Word. He will settle the “too many” by being the “one and only.”
DeAnn Alaine is a comedienne whose mandate from the Lord is to bring joy to the world through stand-up comedy. She is the CEO of ComeeDeAnn Productions LLC and host of the award-winning carwash comedy show, Modwash Moments with DeAnn Alaine on SOLWIN TV. Visit www.deannalaine.com today!
