LESSONS FROM THE OSCARS

where have I been....*wide-eyes* please pardon the long absence

I've been off since but, thanks be to God...am back to share more of the Spirit inspired writings with everyone. This has been delayed and am so sorry....now let's go!!!

WHAT THE OSCARS TAUGHT ME

The 86^th Academy Awards was held on Sunday 2^nd March, 2014 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. The biggest award of the night, Best Picture, went to the movie “12 Years a Slave”. Congrats to all who made it a success.

The night saw first time Oscar nominees Matthew McCounaughey and Jared Leto take home awards for Best actor in leading role and Best Actor in Supporting role respectively in the movie “Dallas Buyers Club”(a true story).

Matthew played Ron Woodroof, an emaciated, medication-struggling AIDS patient. The 44 year old actor is reported to have lost a drastic amount of weight to really portray a man struggling with HIV in the 1980’s. In an interview granted the UK's Mirror newspaper in April this year, he said he consumed nothing but two egg whites, a bit of chicken, a small pudding and two Diet Cokes a day for three or four months.” He lost 7lbs a week and totally getting down to 143lbs in the end. His reason for what he described as ‘pretty hardcore’ dieting was the need to be true to his character. "I felt incredibly clear-headed and purposeful, and on set there were no starvation dramas. I just wanted to get on with the job and tell this incredible story" he added.

Co-star Jared Leto on the other hand is known for method acting having lost weight to play a heroin addict in ‘Requiem For A Dream’ and also gaining with for his role in a little movie called ‘Chapter 27’. As Rayon he played a transgender woman with AIDS who became close friends with Ron Woodroof. He lost 40 pounds, waxed his entire body and also shaved his eyebrows for the role. It is reported that he basically ‘didn’t eat’. He said in an interview, “I had done similar things with weight but this was different. I think the role demanded that commitment” and “Beyond that, he says, I thought it was the role of a lifetime.” And indeed, this paid off winning him an Oscar.

Leto (left) with McCounaughey in the movie

The 'success' of these two actors set me thinking after reading about their efforts and the work that they both did to reach tops in Hollywood. My reflection brought to mind the phrase that begins a monologue in William Shakepeare’s ‘As You Like It’. The speech of melancholy Jacques in Act II Scene VII begins this, “All the world is a stage, and all the men and women merely players…” God has given us the stage and each one of us has a script, I believe.

As Christians we are to live a life that is Christ-like. This will mean “being transformed by the renewing of the mind” in order not to conform to the pattern of this world through which we are transiting. In the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:16, “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good work, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven.” Our actions and inactions on the stage of life must have one goal, that is to glorify the Father. Once we know this we are to take a decision to bring that glory to Him no matter the cost. Hollywood actors all look forward to the Oscars and we as children of God do look forward to a day. We all want to reach the top where we will gain the highest honour available; hearing the words,

 “Well done, good and faithful servant…enter thou into the joy of the Lord.”

This great compliment for the Lord does not come just because we received the script and for us, it is accepting the Jesus as Lord and personal Saviour (becoming Born Again) through the director, he Holy Spirit. We all need to read our scripts, understand it and then take a decision play the role handed us to the best of our ability as He directs. It will mean losing weight like Matthew and Jared in order to be in character. Those who have exited the Christian stage have shown us how we have to act. The writer of the book of Hebrews captures it thus, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus… (12:1).

“It certainly works for me to have a physical commitment. I enjoy the challenge of a physical role” Is another reason Leto gave for his decision to loose weight to be Rayon, a role he described as the role of a lifetime. That decision won him an Oscar.

“I lived a bit of a hermit (a person who lives, to some degree, in seclusion from society) during the period but came out when the sun was out because he had to be pale” as McConaughey described his method acting life for his role. Make-up artists in the movie industry could make him look pale but he did it otherwise and that and many other decision he took to be Woodroof has made him the best actor in Hollywood right now.

This article is not to debate whether the actors deserved their awards or not. I thank them for giving a reason to assess my life as a Christian on the world stage again and also to write this for all to read... We all need to know that there is a prize which demands a price.

An awards day is coming and it is only those who played their role to the satisfaction of the Trinity who will be duly rewarded with the eternal crowns.