WRECKING BALL
“What happened to Miley?”
I know this is “old news” but I like to moll things over—
“For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45)
And, I’ve said it before, I just got on Facebook this summer—I’m a little slow to catch on.
Miley Cyrus–Everyone’s seen her visual transformation, the foam finger incident and then there’s the racy video she released as she floats across the screen naked on a wrecking ball for her #1 smash hit. (Pun intended.)
I’m guessing that the people asking the above question must remember her in her youth; her Disney days, her Hannah persona, the images of innocence.
No one asked this question about Madonna when she used sex for her image.
I can’t imagine what it’s like to be raised by a famous father, constantly in the spotlight and also to have such talent. Her world is different. All that fame. All that pressure to perform, to be different, to be the next big thing. A totally different world.
“’If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.’…those who heard began to go away one at a time”…(John 8:7)
I saw part of an interview with her father Bill Ray Cyrus on Piers Morgan Tonight. -(Also apparently old news!)-He asked him to comment about being her father and the “twerking.”
He didn’t raise his voice, yet he seemed pained and a little sad when he said, “That’s still my Miley.”
She is still his child.
—
I don’t know her world, but I had the same question asked of me.
My sister’s friend had just read my book, “grace.”
“What happened to your sister?” she asked.
She knew me in my college days. The days when my world was different.
Back then, I didn’t care what people thought of me. I didn’t know Jesus. I was breaking the shackles my “good girl” image and wanted to no longer be bound by shyness, insecurities and the labels put on me by my family, teachers, neighborhood, etc.
Behind the new care-free collegiate image was a girl who was taking control, re-defining her world.
I was going to be the wrecker of hearts.
Deeper down I was wrestling with some demons– My heart turned numb after being broken by the one I thought was true. My innocence slipped away on a dark unsuspecting night after too many beers. The two people I counted on for stability became embattled in a lengthy war of worth.
In those days. I was confused, directionless and envisioned no future for myself, so I was going to party like there wasn’t one.
That’s who my sister’s friend remembered.
I have learned these things: this world can break your heart (over and over again), AND every one of us has our stains.
“Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18)
God understands the brokenness and wreckage of which we are so capable.
But these things I also know.
I am His child.
The light of Jesus shines even brighter in our dark places.
“Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29)
I am worthy of my Savior’s death on a cross.
“Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2Cor 5:17)
Transformations take time, but I was pulled from my own darkened depths and know that God has good things planned ahead.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)
But people like to cling to their images, their thoughts, their judgments. It’s almost comforting to trash-talk people living wild lives—makes your world not seem so crazy.
God loved me too much to leave me where I was.
What happened to me is He plucked me from my “wrecking ball” and healed my heart.
He is the One who sees you for what you truly are no matter where you are.
He sent His Son as ransom for our wreckage.
And He is still “in the business” of reconciling this broken world.
So the next time you are tempted to judge someone where they are at presently, take a moment–
Guard your tongue.
Check your heart.
And remember:
We are all His children.
juleseddy1 