Filling Holes

I was disturbed to read comments by Lana Del Rey in an interview she gave to The Guardian, a UK newspaper. According to the artiste, there is something glamourous about dying young. She also stated that she wasn't enjoying the success she had achieved from her music. According to her, her life was in a terrible state and she couldn't understand the people who thought she had an enviable life. I haven't heard anything from her issuing a disclaimer with regards to those comments or saying it was some sort of publicity stunt so I'll accept that those comments reflect her state of mind at this present moment in time. For one so young and successful with the world at her feet, the words are definitely surprising. Also, the words are not so surprising.

I honestly believe that success and accomplishments are not meant to define us or to bring us joy and lasting fulfilment. While success might make us temporarily happy, they are not meant to bring about lasting joy. The mantra being pushed today tells us to push as hard as we can to attain and achieve. While attainment and achievement are good, without great relationships with those around us, achievement and attainment can be a little flat. Attainment and achievement should be measured by the metric of us having achieved our goal. If we look to achievement and attainment to determine our joy, we will be left with a flatness because if we look around long enough, we will always find someone who has achieved and attained more than we have. That is the swift road to depression. While there is nothing wrong with seeking to achieve or attain, it should be tempered with the knowledge that life is more than achieving or attaining.

I believe relationships are very important. I also believe a relationship with the one who loved us and sent his son to die for us is the most important relationship we can ever have. I believe there is a God-sized hole in each and every one of us and only God can fill it. We live in a fallen world which brings pain, despair and heartache. Some people try to fill the whole with drugs, sex and any other thing that comes to mind and they call it pleasure. In the end, there are those who can no longer bear the emptiness that attainment and achievement bring and end up taking their own lives. There are those who continue, feeling the emptiness but able to keep it under control.

I understand that a belief has become unfashionable and will probably soon be illegal if some had their way. C. S. Lewis was the one who said that the pain we go through in life is God’s megaphone through which he calls out to us. Everyone wants to be loved by the people they love. God is no different. He wants to be loved and fill the ache and emptiness in our lives. Every day he calls out to us, watching for our response, hoping to have the chance to heal our hurts and soothe our pains. If only we could hear him and turn to him. There is nothing glamourous about death, whether at a young age or not. And death with knowing God is not something I want for anyone. Not the New Age god being peddled about but the God who is strong, mighty, powerful, yet still loving. I wish Lana all the best. Even more, I wish she could hear the voice of the God who loves her through her pain.  

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBowPress, a division of Thomas Nelson publishers, http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU000194087/Deceptio.aspx and LOST, BUT FOUND available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ/. You can follow him on Twitter @Cruz_JCReal.