A Broken Fairy Tale

My wife tells me that if I publish this particular blog, I will have declared to many that I'm a secret celebrity junkie and that my favourite TV Channel is E! Entertainment. No shame there, I think ... for someone who likes stories, the modern celebrity is the fairy tales of old equivalent. There, did it, clicked on the Publish button and so now you know...

What Happened to Happily Ever After?
So if you're like me (secret or otherwise) and follow all things celebrity, you would have known that Reality TV Star, Kim Kardashian filed for divorce from her husband, Basketballer Kris Humphries on Halloween, a mere 72 days after their wedding (http://www.eonline.com/news/its_over_kim_kardashian_files_divorce/272506#ixzz1cvuGl5Sz)

“I hope everyone understands this was not an easy decision. I had hoped this marriage was forever, but sometimes things don’t work out as planned. We remain friends and wish each  other the best” 

(Source: quptes.whyfame.com)

It's hard to love a show-off...

Source: urbanspit.com

Honestly, when I first read of the divorce on the internet I was secretly pleased. Their million dollar wedding, one of those reality TV things, was so in your face opulent and glamorous it had but one message "Too bad you're not rich and famous like me to have this sort of wedding ... so watch and weep."

But as things unfolded my sentiments changed. In as many interviews she gave after the divorce, Ms. Kardashian emphatically said that divorce was not what she had wanted - that she had wanted to be in love, to have a long and happy marriage, to have children. It was the irony of it all that struck me. How could you be smug or judgemental about this lady who seemed to have it all - beauty, wealth and and fame, yet still have what she  wanted elude her?

But who doesn't want to be loved ...

Click for Web Link

I am reminded of a scene from the movie "Notting Hill". This movie with Julia Robert's character as a world famous American movie star who fell in love with Hugh Grant's character, the owner of a quirky bookshop. Near the end of the movie, after several starts and stops to their romance, Julia Robert's character goes to the bookshop and opens her heart to him saying "The fame thing isn’t real … you know … I’m just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her." Of course, as it should be in any good romantic movie, never mind the near impossibility of an international movie star's marriage to a poor bookshop owner, they marry and live happily ever after.

Real Life demands Real Love

Sadly for Ms Kardashian, real life is not the same as the movies. She wanted intimacy but what she got instead was a broken heart, the attention of the paparazzi and numerous scornful comments that this was a sham marriage for money. Why? Shouldn't love and happiness be the natural outcome of someone with physical and financial assets? It seems, contrary to what the World tells us, not. Recently also in the local newspapers I read the story of this chap who is so enamoured by his iPhone 4S Siri that he asks this electronic thing to marry him everyday. 

The moral of the story is that it doesn't matter who you are - rich and famous or only known to your speaking mobile phone - deep in our hearts is that desire to be loved and known. The Bible tells us that this need, first and foremost, is only met fully by the God of the Bible. He is the only one who knows you even before you're born, who knows your imperfections yet loves you perfectly (can you imagine what it means to be loved perfectly?); and has the power, resources and ability to effect His loving intentions.

We often hear people say that they would do anything for love. From what I understand from the Kim Kardashian's interviews, she certainly was not willing to give up Hollywood for love - which was what her husband wanted, to leave the crazy limelight and have kids in Small Town, USA.

But the cross is our promise that God not only says He loves us but acts accordingly and succeeds every time in giving to us the love that we need.

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3: 16, NIV, Biblegateway.com)

And so we can be sure:

³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38 - 39, NIV, Biblegateway.com)

So the moral of the story is ...

While million dollar weddings are out of reach for most of us everyday man, let us be thankful that this is not a prerequisite to being known and being loved. 


Do you want real love or are you still waiting for that fairy tale to become real?