My children were recently watching the movie “Inside Out 2”. I was “in and out” (pun intended) of the living room as they watched. However, I stopped towards the end to watch while waiting to put them to bed when the movie was over.
There was one particular scene where the character Anxiety had taken over the controls in Riley’s mind. As she was frantically pushing buttons and levers, It overwhelmed Riley, and she began experiencing a panic attack.
Joy fought her way into the maelstrom around the control panel and finally convinced Anxiety to let go of the controls. Once the panic attack ended, Joy looked over at an exhausted Anxiety and said, “You don’t get to decide who Riley is.”
I looked over at my wife and said, “Now that is truly profound.” I felt the Spirit well up inside of me, and my eyes began to moisten. God was speaking truth through this film.
One of the most prominent themes in the Bible is conquering fear. Don’t let anxiety control you. Don’t let anxiety “decide who you are.”
And yet there’s another lesson…
The identity that Joy had built for Riley was represented by a glowing blue orb powering the control room. This identity was built primarily from Riley’s good memories because Joy had compartmentalized and buried the bad memories deep in Riley’s mind.
Joy realized that she also did not have the right to decide who Riley was. This is also profound. You are not your emotions, and your emotions are not you. In Biblical terminology, you are who God made you to be and your identity is found in him, not your emotions.
And yet another lesson…
As part of the plan to regain control of Riley’s mind from Anxiety, Joy had released a flood of all Riley’s memories. When Joy finally removed the blue orb of the identity she had built, all of the memories, good and bad, began fusing together to establish a new complete, whole identity.
Another Biblical truth. “All things work together for good.” Bad memories and choices are still woven into the fabric of who we are. We have to confront these memories and reframe them in the light of this truth.
Yes, God can speak through a children’s film.
