“You like me! You really like me!” by Starr Cliff

Is anyone else baffled by the brain space you utilize to store trivial details about the lives of celebrities?  Truly -  I don’t seek this information out.  I honestly don’t even care about the tragic love life of any given random actress…and yet I seem to absorb and remember ridiculous amounts of information about these people.  A brief glance at the magazines in a checkout line, or a quick visit to an internet news site…it’s like I’m following pop culture by osmosis!  I can’t remember to move the clothes to the dryer in a timely manner, but I can, sadly, tell you which actress is currently having weight struggles.  If only I could purge this information from my brain; I might have room in there to remember to pick my kids up from school each day.  (That’s a joke.  Okay…sort of a joke.  I only forgot once okay!)

An insane amount of attention follows celebrities who earn top awards in their respective arts – Emmys, Academy Awards, Grammys – along with that type of  prize comes more wealth, more fame, and more exposure.

Here is where I see that I truly am an alien in this world.  As I strive toward the ultimate prize, the goal of knowing Christ and living in the center of His will, my own fame and exposure must become less, not more.  Working, and praying, and working some more to make His name famous sets me on a trajectory of my life being less and less about my acclaim, and more and more about His.

Friends – it’s human nature to want to receive attention and praise.  I share this desire with the rest of humanity.  We want to be praised and to know that those things that make us uniquely “us” are valued and seen by others. But if the glory and acclaim stop at me, and never reflects onto the only One who is truly worthy, then my working and striving are in vain.

We can all agree that it doesn’t really matter how much we know about the life of a celebrity.  It’s all vanity and quickly fleeting.

What I’m learning as I grow up in Jesus, is that it doesn’t matter how much people know about me, either.  I can work to convince the world of the charm, talent, and grace of Starr Cliff (okay, maybe not grace; I clumsily slam into doorframes on a weekly basis); but if I live my life in a way that showcases my talents and abilities without pointing peoples’ eyes and hearts toward Christ, my life is in vain as well.

The beautiful irony of following Jesus is that the PRIZE we earn looks nothing like the prize the world bestows.  As we reach our goal of following hard after Him, instead of being in the spotlight we slip off to the sidelines to allow Him to take center stage. And the private audience of our Maker becomes more than enough.

“He must increase, but I must decrease.”  John 3:30

Starr Cliff

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1. What’s on your iPod – Happy Day by Fee, How He Loves by Kim Walker, and an embarrassing assortment of early 1990’s country music
2. What’s on your nightstand – Homeland by Barbara Kingsolver, Shepherding a Child’s Heart by Tedd Tripp, and The Friends We Keep by Sarah Zacharias David
3. Who’s in your house – Jonathan (husband), Ryan age 7, Dylan age 6, and Lauryn age 4.