I know that you’re all so excited to hear what I have to say about Britney Spears. I’ve been thinking about her all day today. I’ve been thinking about how like Britney I am. No, I don’t have her bikini body, and I can’t sing like her (although for some of you, that may be a blessing!). I definitely don’t have her money or her fame. I did, however, start in much the same place as Britney. I, too, grew up in the South in a Southern Baptist Church with Christian and traditional values in my home. I, too, loved to sing and desired to do that more than just about anything - except get married and have children. Britney, too, according to her own words, desperately desired to have a family of her own. She obviously has been searching for love and acceptance, just as I did (and still do). Like me, she chose to ditch her “good girl” image and go for the wild life. Perhaps, like me, she just felt a little (or a lot) rebellious. She, too, chose the bad guys, the ones that only tear down what little self-esteem you possess. She, too, never could figure out who she wanted to be. She gets the worst dressed award so often because she’s trying to show us all that her body looks good. She changes her hair color so often because she can’t figure out how she looks the hottest. She has become more and more “nasty” in her songs, her dance moves, and her dress because she so desperately wants to prove to the world that she is more than the “good girl” she was tagged. She wanted to be a mom so she had two precious children, only to be criticized for every wrong move. She couldn’t measure up there either! She couldn’t keep her marriage together. Then, after having two children so close together, she was told by the press that she’d never have the body she’d had before. Ultimately, she couldn’t handle the pressure anymore - from within herself and without. She couldn’t handle the constant battle between the two Britneys. She snapped, shaved her head, and the rest is history.

While I agree that she is making incredibly poor decisions, ruining her reputation (what’s left of it), and destroying a once-promising career, I can’t help but feel really sorry for her because I recognize Kitty in her. As I look around my world, and I meet the young girl who’s living with her boyfriend, or the kid who’s messed up in drugs, or the happy-go-lucky life-only-goes-around-once young adult, I want to have more compassion. I don’t want to be the one criticizing those people making those decisions, partly because I, too, made some of those same decisions in another life, partly because I have more mercy than a person ought to have. My heart hurts instead. I hurt for the persons inside those bodies who are trying desperately to be accepted, loved unconditionally.

We can each acknowledge that the Britneys around us need better guidance, but the rubber meets the road when I come alongside “Britney,” and I love her like I wanted to be loved, like Jesus loves me, like Jesus loves “Britney.” I think that that’s what God has asked of me, is still asking of me. And that’s where I’m going to live - with His help and thanks to the love He has shown me, continues to show me each day. And in the meantime, I’m going to pray for Britney that there’s a “Kitty” out there who can show her the love and acceptance she’s looking for in Christ.