The speed of sound broke all scientific records on July 5th, 2009, as six of us squealing fifteen-year-old gals stormed up the steps of my aunt’s Savannah, Georgia, river house, plopped on the blue-striped couch, and switched on the chunky flat screen tv, praying we weren’t late to the opening bits of Hannah Montana’s new episode, “He Could Be the One.”
Which boy would win over the affections of Miley (the everyday California teen by day who, by night, was disguised as pop-star sensation, Hannah Montana)? Would Miley fall for Jesse, the edgy bad boy, the brunette who seemed cuter whenever he played the guitar? Or would she go with Jake Ryan, the famous blonde pop-star, who, though a bit air-headed, cared for “an ordinary girl” (cue the song, please).
I won’t spoil it for any of you daring to reach back in time and watch the episode, but the Millennial nostalgia Hannah Montana ensues has resurfaced as Miley Cyrus, the star of the show, pays tribute to the show’s twentieth anniversary.
Many people know Miley Cyrus through Hollywood tabloids, often highlighting her low points in life. And while my Christian-school-teen brain told me to judge her harsher as her post-Hannah Montana music videos and life choices grew darker, the plain old Christian woman writing this today just wants to grab her hand and whisper, “Jesus is kind and lovely and crazy about you.”
Motherhood has humbled me in ways a legalistic church rearing never could, never did. I’ve accepted that I am truly no different than the Miley Cyrus on the wrecking ball, in the bird cage, in the nasty divorce. She and I are both human, both missing pieces of our innocence that only youthful naivety can afford. It’s the days before we discovered he cheats, she gossips, or they’re only looking to fill their bank accounts.
It’s the days when Jesus wasn’t hard to understand or honor, when faith was almost too simple to be real. It’s days gone by, the ones we simply can’t get back. We spot their remnants occasionally, perhaps through an old friend or a scratched-up CD, but they’re just that: irretrievable pieces of our hearts.
As I grieve the old me, the old Miley Cyrus, and the old Hannah Montana, I can’t help but believe that a pop culture tribute like Miley Cyrus’ reveals something weighty, in an eternal sense, about fame, identity, and longing.
Fame Cannot Fulfill the Human Heart
At some point in life, most people want to be famous. They long to be in movies, on American Idol, or a top social media influencer. It’s not a surprise, though, nor should it be something we scoff at. Sure, pride often weasels its way into a person’s desire to be famous, but at our core, we don’t want to just be famous. We want to be known. We want people to see who we are, like what we do/offer, and affirm that we matter.
We were wired this way, friends, which is why, ironically enough, those dreams we reach never leave us fully satisfied. Being known, truly known, is intimate, and intimacy is too big and too beautiful to be confined to a credit roll, an iTunes download, or ten thousand likes.
It’s taken time for me to realize just how slow, steady, humble, and important intimacy is, how it’s meant to tether me to the Father. Perhaps Miley Cyrus’ taste for fame hasn’t been satisfactory, and maybe she can’t put her finger on what’s missing, but she’s unknowingly chasing intimacy with the God who daily wars for her soul.
I can’t imagine the scrutiny, stalking, abuse, and misguidance she has likely endured, and such pressure crushes a young woman’s perception of herself. And while the music video for her single, “Wrecking Ball,” is, well, uncomfortable, I find the lyrics heartbreakingly beautiful. Several lines leave no doubt that, though famous, she doesn’t feel known:
I can't live a lie, running for my life
I will always want you
Yet, she recognizes how powerful intimacy is, how desperately we should chase after it:
I never meant to start a war
I just wanted you to let me in
Regardless of age, race, creed, or country of origin, we each have an internal desire, an unwavering need, to be known—and to be loved. Yet, many of us never recognize, or choose to acknowledge, that such unstoppable, perfect love only comes from Jesus.
“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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” - John 3:16-17
Rooting Identity in Something Real
No matter how subtle or blatant, the Hannah Montana script always centers on Miley’s identity crisis. On the one hand, she’s a young teenage girl without her mother. That alone leaves a girl’s identity in the balance. On the other hand, she’s too young to drive but somehow old enough to be thrust into the pop star world, where people pine after her music, her glam, her tabloid story… but do they pine after her? Truly? How could they when she’s not actually Hannah Montana but Miley?
Can everyday Miley be enough if she doesn’t know who she is or where to rest her value?
My prayer is that today’s grown-up Miley Cyrus finds her way to Jesus’ love and steady grace, that she clings to an identity that will never hinge on all she has or hasn’t done, or how many secret pop-star identities she has. As she reflects on her days as a Disney star and all the silly antics young Miley and Hannah Montana found themselves in, I hope she celebrates the truth that we never need an alter ego to be made whole.
“For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness…” - Colossians 2:9-10
The Ache Behind Our Longing
Humans were made to survive. Better yet, we were made to look ahead, to move forward, to hope. Thus, we are always longing for something.
Where we steer off course is longing for things that derail our true identity in Christ. There’s no rest for our hearts and minds when we chase things never meant to fulfill us. We waste time, often (unintentionally) abuse resources, and are left thinking, “This is it?”
Meanwhile, we cling to the past, dip our hearts into nostalgia, and search for pieces of who we were when who we are isn’t meeting the mark.
I pray this isn’t Miley Cyrus’ case. I hope she isn’t so uncomfortable with who she is or where her life seems to be going that the only place she feels at home is in the past, in a time and place where being a naive teen was safer and more satisfactory.
Celebrity status or not, I pray each of us places our longings in the safe, strong hands of Jesus, that we are at peace with our past, steady in our present, and confident in our future.
“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For all the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
Grown-up Miley Cyrus, I’m cheering for you. Truly.
Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/Stephen Shugerman / Stringer
