And He Addeth No Sorrow

Up until this past week, I would have told you that I don’t want to hear another word about Britney Spears. Tv, radio and internet news include a photo and story about her almost daily, and a search engine study will show that there’s good reason: she’s one of the top 5 most searched items, consistently. I’ve had enough…up until this week. But this week, I find myself praying for her. Hm. What gives? We watched not long ago as the life and times of Anna Nicole Smith ended abruptly, amid a jet-set life of drugs, clubs and seemingly utter aimlessness. News programs compared Anna’s life and death to that of 1950’s pop star Marilyn Monroe. Beauty, effervescence…lostness. Elton John penned a musical tribute to her aptly entitled, “Candle in the Wind.” (…never knowing who to cling to when the rain set in…)These performers - and others - have so much, and yet it seems to come with such sorrow… What Britney has been up to lately, I couldn’t tell you, except that she’s shorn her head. This isn’t the first time a female celebrity has done so, nor will it be the last. But there’s something about this. It speaks to me of grief, hopelessness, and affliction. Somehow, I can just see the desperation in her life right now. Such wealth and attention have been showered upon her, and yet all has now come to this. Drugs, lostness…I pray for her soul- that she will not end up as the others have. I pray that she will find shelter from the wind; that she will live, then tell the story. I pray that the eyes of her understanding (and those of the multitudes of young people who look to her for entertainment and even direction) will be opened to the fact that blessing doesn’t have to come with sorrow. Honestly, we all have so much. No, we don’t make the salaries that these entertainers do, nor do most of us live the public lives that they do. But we really do have so much compared to people in other places in the world. And yet so many of us are still prisoners to sorrow. Maybe I pray for Britney because she is a microcosm of us. The sorrow comes from aimlessness. From not being grounded in a plan. From the sense of purposeless-ness that so many feel, even many who love and worship Jesus. It would do us all good, regardless of whether we’ve said the Sinner’s Prayer, to take stock of our lives and ask ourselves if we’re living the life of purpose that God has mapped out for us. God wants us to be blessed, and to enjoy that blessing fully. Some would even say that it’s our duty. Showing others God’s goodness is a joy! But enjoying His blessing for the sake of the blessing comes short of our purpose, and will always lead to emptiness. Each time I pray for this girl, I’m going to remember to pray that I also will learn how to be more grateful, more giving, and more yielded to what God wants of me daily, for “the blessing of Jehovah indeed maketh rich, and in it, He addeth no sorrow.” –Prov 10:22