#57 Fame

“You can have me before my time…before I flower.”   

                                                                                     -Selling out for Fame   

Fame has a seductive allure. Perhaps the human need for validation drives the pursuit of this fickle lover.   

“If I am popular, then I am worthy, and my life’s work counts.” We tell ourselves in hopes of eliciting reassurance.     

While I do believe God graces many with influence to further His purposes upon this earth, the path of popularity is precarious at best. The masses raise a person to stardom with lauding one day and then scathingly humiliate him or her the next.   

For every cheering fan, ten scoffers hiss and boo. Exposing celebritys’ flaws incites entertainment frenzy. If you doubt this, then you have not turned your television on for a while.   

I, for one, never liked the vulnerable feelings I had during those brief seasons of my life when a larger circle of people knew me.  

I can remember getting sore cheeks in high school trying to smile at everyone because I was a cheerleader and people tended to call cheerleaders snobs.   

During those subsequent ministry years, many people believed we youthful leaders really had all of the answers to solve their problems. Looking back, how could we have because we were still young adults lacking the maturity that only comes through living the hard stuff of life?   

Now, I wince when someone goes on and on about a youthful church leader who “can really preach and is so gifted.” That may be so, but I wonder about the wisdom that we only glean through life experience.   

Perhaps a blessing that old age brings is the benefit of perspective—a lifetime of watching others surf the rising and falling waves of fame has to count for something.   

So if this dashing young lover, fame, promises to grant you all of your heart’s desires if you will allow him to take you before your time… before your talents flower, stop and reconsider.   

For opportunities to grow in maturity and wisdom fill the rich soil from where he plans to pluck you from the earth.    

Side note: Ironically, after I wrote this post, I read “Is your blog the unpopular kid?” on CNN Tech and chuckled. They used the same high school analogy. We bloggers can become especially vulnerable to this allure of trying to become the blogging cheerleader.  

So part of my blogging identity quest is to stay focused, in my blog and in my life, on what really matters. If I can spread a little encouragement while blooming in this garden of life, then resisting the pull towards popularity will have been worth the effort!