Costumes Are Not My Life - From a Cosplayer

Once upon a time, in the middle of working crazy hard to finish my Captain America cosplay, I had a mental/emotional breakdown.  This was due to some combination of disappointment and stress, ending in the loathing of myself and my work-in-progress Captain America costume. After an encouraging one-on-one sesh with God and a good night's sleep, I was feeling much, much better. But not about my costume. The costume was still, in my eyes, dreadful. "Oh, why can't you just look perfect, already??? I've worked so hard on you... this is not how you're supposed to turn out."

As I was arranging the bodice on Sylvie (my dress form -- hush hush and don't ask questions) and made adjustments to some of the pins still holding the place of seams, it didn't look so bad anymore.  And then, it began to look even better when I reminded myself that I don't have unlimited money, time, or skills, [unlike almost every cosplayer in the media spotlight]. So, unless I get super obsessive about it, my Captain America costume is just not going to imitate the real thing as much as I'd like (plus, I was creating a female version, so it would never look exactly the same as the original -- hah!)

See, I don't even want to get super obsessive over costumes. Cosplay is not my life, and I never want to act like it is. Jesus is my life, cosplay is just a hobby through which I desire to give glory to Him and receive some simple joy in this crazy world we live in. Cosplay will never give me the fullness and satisfaction of spirit that Christ gives me, as I feel every time I start to put costumes before my relationship with Him. That situation is not pleasant, not the way it's supposed to be, and only leaves me feeling insufficient. But not so when God is in the proper place in my life, as "Number 1" -- He is the only one sufficient to fulfill all our needs: spiritual, emotional, physical.

So, cosplay is not my life... and neither are movies.

I had a realization today.  I've been worried lately that I like movies too much -- that they've been becoming an "idol" for me, that I've been replacing God with cinematics. It wasn't a nagging feeling in my spirit, but rather a nagging question in my intellect, which made me question the importance of my own question.  If becoming obsessed with cinematics was such an issue, then I thought I should be feeling insufficient and empty, like what happens when I put my costumes before God.  But I didn't feel that way, so I was left to ponder the question some more.

I imagined the Christian life as something like this: we're each given a picture to color, and we're given the freedom to color in the lines with whatever colors we want, adding designs, etc.  We only run into trouble when we start altering the base of the picture -- like, changing a horse into a giraffe, for a weird example. The colors we choose for our pictures are our personal interests.  Because, we're all created with different personalities, different looks, and different likes and dislikes.  Put simply, different does not equal bad -- sin equals bad, and sin is that which goes against the teachings given to us in the Bible.

My oldest sister is a piano teacher, my second oldest sister is a science nerd, I'm a film geek, and my younger sister is a fitness nut.  It would seem we don't have much in common, right?  But, see, that's a wrong assumption, because we totally do.  All four of us are the bestest of friends, and we can be that because we all love Jesus; we are similar in what really matters. We are all members of the family of God, He is our center, and every other part of our lives falls into place around that.

So, here's the finale, the thought I want you to come away with from all of this: Costumes are great, movies are great, whatever-your-personal-interests-are are great, just always remember to never forget who made you, who made the world you live in, and who gave his son to save your life. God. Jesus died for your life, so live it to the fullest, live it to the best of your ability...

but never, ever forget who gave it to you, and give back to Him by keeping Him at the center of your life.