We R Who We R - Ke$ha wisdom to live by...?

I couldn't stand the song when it came out. How could this talentless girl shoot to fame and the charts when she can't even really sing! There are girls in our Church who are much more talented, why has popular music become so full of rubbish?! And who puts a dollar symbol in their name?! But of course in a show of defiance the girls kept singing and playing it, quoting "We are who we are" in the most peculiar contexts. 

All credit to them - they won me over. The song is now lodged in my head and I quite love it. Though I think I'll put it down to the associations that I make between the song and brilliant times, and brilliant people.

The lyrics did get me thinking though, because at the heart of this song is this lyric "we are who we are". If I take a positive spin on it, it's a great lyric affirming that we are individuals, and that we shouldn't try to become somebody else. I love that idea, it's one of things I'm very passionate about, that we are unique individuals who shouldn't need to subscribe to the pressures of other people. Teaching young people this is such an essential task. 

It's the rest of the lyrics that make me frustrated at what I perceive is the real message. 

"Hot and dangerous, if you're one of us then roll with us, cause we make the hipsters fall in love. And we've got hot-pants on enough, and yes of course because we're running this town just like a club"

I've always thought that Ke$ha's popularity is simply because she is 'party girl'. To me, she epitomises the party scene. It's the scene that says 'we don't care what anyone thinks of us, all we care about is partying". It's a scene that promotes, and promises that all you need to do is to enjoy yourself, and you'll be happy. Drink, dance and pull. It's the norm for so many of our young people. But herein lies my real frustration: "We R Who We R" is not about being individuals, in fact in my view it's the opposite. It's about getting with the crowd, buying into the party, and not caring what anyone else thinks. 'Why should you care what they think of you? - you are who you are'.

But instead of being 'who you are', Ke$ha's lyrics really just encourage people to conform. 

We recently had a discussion with our teen boys about the issue of drinking, and they expressed that they drink because others do it. They are the odd one out if they don't, and they don't want to be left out. So they join the party. They want to be able to join the jokes, and laugh at the guy who threw up or pulled the 'unattractive' girl. So are they really being 'who they are', or are they just selling out to fit in?

God has more for us. He has more for girls than being scantily clad and dolled up to look good. He has more for boys than treating girls like prizes and objects for our pleasure. He has more for us than throwing ourselves at strangers. He has more for us than losing control and making fools of ourselves. He has more for us than feeling ill the morning after. It's not rocket science. 

God wants more for us than just a 'good weekend'. It's just not very popular. It does mean going against the crowd. It does mean feeling foolish sometimes because no-one else understands. But God longs for us to be who we truly are, and as the one who made us, He should know.

Forgive me for slating Ke$ha. I do love her song, and I'm not that serious, I do appreciate it for what it is. But I am passionate about helping young people find their own identity, based on the truth that God has made them each individually and uniquely. The truth that they are who they are, and they don't need to conform. Beneath the surface Ke$ha has a very different, but popular message, and has a much wider audience than I. 

My hope is that through my seemingly small and insignificant part, some young people will be led to the truth that they are created by God, and in Him that they really do find who they are. 

"Thank you Lord for my Slingsby Ladder"

I actually had to ask what a 'Slingsby ladder' even was. I had no idea why she was making such a big deal out of it! An older lady who attends my homegroup was so overjoyed about the fact that she had this ladder recently installed in her house. We were moving round each of the 5 of us who attend, and were sharing our various life challenges or joys. Various things were discussed by the other 4 of us: new jobs; stressful jobs; children living differently from how we would hope they would be living; and this Slinsby ladder!

She worked as a nurse and travelled as a missionary across many countries serving with her skills. Her decisions very much limited her possibilities of marriage and so she is single. She has suffered from great illness in recent years. She is one of the most remarkably wise people I have ever met, and when she speaks and shares her life with us, we sit listening intently, hanging on every word she says. She is dedicated in her reading of the Bible and has an incredible knowledge, and with is an incredible wisdom. Throughout her life and still, she is devoted to God as her sole rock and guide. It's displayed in every ounce of her thought, outlook and attitude. Once one of our homegroup members said to her "you must have given up so much to live the life that you have lived", and she replied "not at all, I have been given so much more in return, and been blessed in so many ways". 

The words of a woman who's hope is truly in the Lord. She had left home, given up the opportunity to marry, spent many a Christmas away from home in a strange culture, lived on her own, struggled through illnesses, and yet her only thought is of how good God has been to her.

I'm a 22 year old blessed in so so many ways with so much of my life ahead of me. I'm often lazy in my prayer and study life. I've been given such an amazing privilege to lead and serve in my Church for the year. I am spoiled. Yet how often I am ungrateful. And this lady is over-the-moon with her Slingsby ladder that allows her into her loft.

With the advances in the modern world, we're used to possessions. God is indeed a useful 'bolt-on' to our lives. He gives us added security. He gives us added confidence. He gives us the comfort that we're not alone, and that He forgives us when we do things 'wrong'. We don't need God, but we'll happily take Him where it makes our lives better. 

But this lady has grasped something that I would do well to grasp. Yes God sent Jesus to bring her new life to one tarred by sin, but God has given her that life in the first place. The breath she breathes. She is, because HE IS. We are stewards of what God has given to us. The job, the money, every waking moment - even the Slingsby ladder!

How I could learn to humble myself in the same way, and increase my joy and love for how generous He has been.