I WANT to read 50 Shades of Grey...I
want to read it so badly I cried...actually cried.
For those of you who read that and say, “What? Cried? Really?” I say, “Yes. REALLY. CRIED.” And I rejoice for you that you have no idea, reason or reckoning that something like this book could bring this Austen/Shakespeare loving, Mommy to two beautiful little girls, Jesus Girl to actually cry out to God and tell Him honestly, “I want a reason to give in…to feel good, entitled even, about this teensy weensy indulgent read.”
You see, for ALL of my teenage years I didn’t just read trashy romance novels….I ABSORBED them. How did it start? My mother, who finds no enjoyment in anything fiction and was at one time an ad vide nonfiction reader on just about any topic…was given a book by a friend who raved about this book. It had the most beautiful princess in a light blue gown laying in the lap of a handsome man on the bank of cliffs somewhere oversees. I was maybe 9 and I was dusting behind the couch and it was a forgotten book on the bottom shelf.
Sin finds a match to our hearts...know that for your children…and I
surely met mine.
I found this book, and subsequently other like books, gave an easy,
instant fix to heart cries I didn’t even know I had. To be wanted, to be
“loved”, to be needed, to be desirable, to be held with regard…for someone to
go to the greatest heights and depths for me…uh, I mean…for the beautiful
damsel. It was tantalizing, sensationally, and for a moment in time…satisfying
even.
Now, I was not popular in school…at
all really…but I fit in okay with the drama crowd and was even accomplished
enough to get some star leads and the Principle’s Medallion for the Dramatic
Arts my senior year in High School, a time when it was all about ME. Even so, I do remember
this…the most popular, beautiful, intelligent (our junior year she won some
huge award for some national test beating out people statewide –academics was
not my strong suit so I have no idea what the test was J) THIS girl, who could herself
have been on any one of those covers, traded these books…with me.
Back then, I just thought it a neat thing we shared…now I realize…trashy
romance novels are not just for the “poor, obscure, plain and little”…they are
for those who desperately want to FEEL loved…even if it’s sex based, even if
it’s twisted. And a virgin can be counted before God just as promiscuous as a seasoned cheerleader
hiding an abortion from her father.
Reading, for women, makes the emotional connection, that easy "fix". But
it doesn’t last…and you want to read more of the same, and most often racier
things…But then, if you’ve battled this…you know that already.
So…what happened with me now? Why am I at
peace, writing about this…knowing that, for now, the battle has been waged and
won…I no longer have that persistent nagging and secret desire to read it. But how? How is it I don't have that dread of coming across yet another well-meaning Christian on facebook
~from beloved John Piper and Kirk Cameron, to well-known and celebrated Jesus
Girls getting on the “Why 50 Shades of Grey is bad” ban wagon that has actually
brought this struggle to the forefront, instead of being a distant memory of a
sin I once indulged. Which, frankly, is not a bad thing…and they have lots of
accurate things to say about why it is just plain wrong from lots of angles. So
if you want to find out the “why it’s bad” go there…I agree TOTALLY…while STILL wanting desperately to
read it!~
AND I would love
to say it’s because I know my Lord better now than I did when I was a teen, and
THANK YOU LORD, that is true, I do know You more, I’ve walked WITH YOU and you
have testified to my heart of your faithfulness, over and over and over in so
many ways I want to weep for the reality that YOU SEE ME and you have done and
are doing on my behalf…but...that’s not it.
And I’d love
to say I used lots of scripture and ‘cast out the demon’ so to speak…and yes, I
did a lot of reminding myself of His
words, and promises in scripture that are there for ALL in Christ. Reminding
myself that he has “satisfied my longing soul” before…but no that didn't quench the want to.
And I’d like
to say I’m in such a better place than I was when I was a teen…that I
don’t have feelings of littleness, or obscurity…And though my girls are a sweet
reminder of God’s love and blessing, the fact is life is REALLY hard right now,
and I’m suck in the middle of a place I once dismissed as far away as China…In fact...in
many ways I’m more lonely that I’ve ever been…so no… that’s not it either.
You want to
know what broke the pull, the yearning, the wanting…being real with God…I finally,
FINALLY did what He tells us to do when we are caught in something we don’t see
the way out of and sometimes don’t want a way out of…”IF you confess your sins,
He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and CLEANS US from all
unrighteousness!” Those aren’t just
words on a paper…every word of that promise is a pact sent from the heart of
our Creator to our broken souls longing for something to fill in what ONLY HE
was meant to fill…
For the
weeks that this struggle has been I said a few broken sentences born of
frustration…words that amounted to
something like: I WANT to read this dumb book more than I want YOU and it
doesn’t help that everywhere I am…there is something reminding me of what I
want more than YOU!
And there is
was…the REAL sin.
You know Jonah?
Big
fish, bleached skin, Nineveh spared…yeah him.
Some say he
never repented…But there are those who think the Book of Jonah IS his
repentance. Repentance does not always say the same thing, “Dear Lord, I’m
sorry I’m such a sinner and I’ve done this deed.” The heart is not always so coherent, nor the tongue so eloquent.
Often…It is
the heart of surrender under the weight of something we CAN’T fight that the
Lord honors and rushes in to cover, to rescue and to restore. That we may know
where our strength comes from and say with glad, thankful hearts words from the Psalmist, “My strength
comes from the Lord, Maker of heaven and earth!”
1 comment:
Hey, Alicha.
I'm one of those Christian women who has read--partially--50 Shades of Grey. People who mainstream an idea, an invention, a book, a fashion piece or whatever, fascinate me. I did not check out Shades for the kinky sex but to figure out how E.L. James hooked people into buying her book(s) in the numbers that they did.
I read pretty much what I want and decide during the reading process if a book is worth finishing. With 50 Shades, I stopped reading because the female protagonist got on my nerves. The inner dialogue was tedious and monotonous with the "he's so freaking hot"s and the "inner goddess this" and "inner goddess that."
As a reader, I couldn't get into it, but from a professional point of view, I still can't figure out how James was able to captivate so large an audience. Perhaps the book's fascination has more to do with it starting out as a satire of Twilight (I've read them all and seen all the movies). Meaning, she was able to piggyback off of Meyer's fame and give that audience a more "grown-up" version of Twilight. Sort of like giving people more of the same, but different.
I hope I haven't hi-jacked your post. I will end by saying I admire your refreshing honesty and for presenting an alternate side to the 50 Shades discussion.
On a side note, Christianity needs to
take back sex and show the world how it's really done--the why, the when and the with whom.
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