I’ve seen many Jelly Belly options, but this one was new to me: Mixed Emotions. Each one has a different emoticon expression, and you’re encouraged to “feel the flavor”: happy, grumpy, playful, sad, or love. The whole concept of mixed emotions sends a mixed message to me. So, we eat our emotions? We feel what we eat? We mix and match to get our desired flavored feeling?

Sure, I’m overthinking it a bit, but after digging through Scripture as I wrote Pure Emotion, peeling apart what God intends for different emotions that are part of his character from what we’ve misconstrued them to be, I am careful in how I approach, assign, and abuse emotions. I don’t want them to be ill-defined, misapplied, or overemphasized. God gave us emotions to enhance life not to deceive us into believing skewed perceptions of it. When emotions drive us, we set wisdom aside. Emotions can help us, but they can also deceive and cripple us.

Do we have mixed emotions at times? Sure. And I get that the jelly beans are just candy. It’s a cute marketing tactic, especially on the heels of emoticon popularity. But cute and helpful and truthful and worthwhile do not always coincide.

Notice your emotions. Identify your emotions. Truth check your emotions. Keep your emotions in perspective. You don’t have to soak in the flavor for too long.