You are a treasure
Lady Gaga in a trash can? Actually, this wasn’t one of her eccentric, eye-catching outfits. According to the singer, some boys literally threw her in a trash can when she was in high school. Lady Gaga, whose real name is Stefani Germanotta, told reporters that as she sat in the trash can in front of her classmates, she laughed—but really, what she wanted to do was cry.
In high school, everyone thought Stefani was too dramatic, too weird. So they discarded her. The garbage can, it turns out, was a poignant symbol for the way her peers were thinking about her.
I don’t know Lady Gaga personally, and it’s hard to know if her story is authentic, or something dreamed up by her publicity team. But what I can say from experience is that no matter how we’re treated, and no matter what others think of us, each of us is a treasure—not trash.
Like valuable jewels hidden inside the most unassuming rock, the sparkling, valuable person you really are exists right now. This is your nature as a child of God. You’re beautiful. And your worth is infinite. Whatever seems to be obscuring your God-given individuality and value—whether it’s someone else’s misperception of you, or your own—can fall away so that the real you can shine.
Of course, sometimes it seems easier to see the rock instead of the jewel. I suppose we’ve each had our “trash can” moments, when circumstances try to make us believe that we’re nothing but worthless mortals—self-created and separate from God. But it’s always possible to exchange that incorrect view for the true one. Identifying ourselves as reflections of God, as manifestations of all His/Her beauty and grace and joy and purpose, we can’t help but rediscover the worth that’s always been there.
Once someone made me feel like I was trash. I agreed to go to a movie with a classmate. But then he tricked me—and weaseled me into a dangerous and scary situation without regard for my safety or my well-being.
It took me a long time after that to uncover the treasure within myself. But when I finally asked for help from a Christian Science practitioner, I found comfort. The practitioner told me that he was cherishing my womanhood. To me this meant that he was seeing me as a woman in an entirely different way than I had been thinking of myself. He saw something of value in me, something that couldn’t be tarnished. This prompted me to think about what my womanhood really was. Was it something physical, or was it something that God had designed, something that was a permanent part of my mental make-up? I came to understand that my womanhood was a spiritual idea, a treasure that couldn’t be turned into trash by any person or circumstance.
Soon I felt that I had the dignity and worth of a king’s daughter, and I remembered this verse from the Bible: “The king’s daughter is all glorious within.” 1 I really believed that! I felt more alive and loving, more fruitful and beautiful than ever before.
My story isn’t unique. A seventeen-year-old boy in Bible times helped his brothers in the family business. His father loved him very much and gave him a flamboyant designer coat that might have been as striking in his day as Lady Gaga’s outfits are in ours. We do know that when he wore it he got attention. And like Stefani Germanotta, he also dreamed that people would “worship” him one day. This young man named Joseph dreamed that in the future, his brothers would bow to him—and he told them that. His brothers, of course, didn’t like hearing this—so they discarded him. They threw him in a pit, maybe made him feel like trash. They certainly meant to teach him a lesson. The Bible says, however, that “Joseph was a goodly person, and well favoured.” 2 He ended up managing his boss’s entire company, and his boss worked for the King.
So what does it take to feel like a treasure? Does it take a special name like “Lady”—one that symbolizes the dignity and respect of royalty? Does it take a special wardrobe, or a position of authority?
I like what Mary Baker Eddy wrote in Science and Health on this subject: “The testimony of the corporeal senses cannot inform us what is real and what is delusive,” she explained, “but the revelations of Christian Science unlock the treasures of Truth.” 3To me this says that only God, Truth, determines our worth. And Truth reveals this worth as we’re willing to look to Truth for answers. Measuring our value by the world’s standards results in an unsatisfying life—one that never feels quite worthy. But looking at things from God’s perspective, we see that we’re always loved, always valuable, always enough. We are, each of us, treasures.
Notes:
- Psalms 45:13 ↩
- Genesis 39:6 ↩
- Science and Health, p. 70 ↩
Topics: Identity | Tags: image, respect, Self-esteem
Glamorous celebrities don’t really do it for me, but I liked hearing the part about you. It must have taken a lot of courage to write this. And what a powerful message that no one can ever fall from grace, or even for a second lose their innocence and purity!
What a wonder we all are.. so real and wise to remember..
“Measuring our value by the world’s standards results in an unsatisfying life—one that never feels quite worthy. But looking at things from God’s perspective, we see that we’re always loved, always valuable, always enough. We are, each of us, treasures.”
Wow, Kristin. What a profound realization. Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts!
Start writing here… “you are God’s purpose, His great design. Holding your thought to the good and the true, Spirit will form you anew”. Supplementary hymn 453. This hymn drives the message of this article into my heart!
Thank you, Kristin.
Thank you for connecting this important topic with the story of Lady Gaga. To me, she isn’t so much a glamorous celebrity, but a fascinating woman. As a musician, I stand in awe knowing that in her early years there was a time when she composed and performed a new song nearly every day! Even if some of her outfits seem really strange to me (and even although I don’t know if she believes in God at all), I can still take her as a wonderful example of how blessed man is as God’s image and likeness.
You know, Annette, that’s the part I really hated about this article the most (and still do). Lady Gaga is a very talented musician. No doubt! I actually love some of the songs she does “unplugged,” and think her natural voice over acoustic piano is really quite beautiful.
But it’s not her music, but her lifestyle choices that bother me — and the messages they send to young people. If you’ve done any digging into her personal life you’ll very quickly find that she’s not shy about the fact that’s experimented regularly with a lot of illegal drugs and taken part in multiple-partner sex orgies. To compare that kind of “role model” with the character of Joseph is not only sacrilegious, but a downright insult to Joseph! The underlying message you can get from her is that if you really want to be successful and famous, you’re going to have to make all sorts of illegal, immoral, and very unhealthy choices. That completely takes God out of the equation, and I can hardly think of a more terrible message for young women.
And here’s one key difference between her own story and that of Joseph’s that I feel compelled to point out: the coat that Joseph received wasn’t something he himself came up with; it was given to him. It wouldn’t have been gaudy or flamboyant to wear it; in fact — living in his father’s household — he would have been expected to wear it, and doing so was a dutiful and reverent act to honor his father. Lady Gaga, on the other hand, designs and picks out her own outfits with very specific motivations behind them. The motivation there is to get a reaction out of people and to garner more attention for herself. That isn’t done out of reverence to anything; that’s just vanity let loose.
Hi Gordon,
You are right – what You describe about Lady Gaga sounds disturbing. I could tell You a lot of similar wild stories about the classical composer I love most – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Being extraordinary talented, both Mozart and Stefani Germanotta lacked something Joseph had and You and I have: a deep trust and understanding of the loving omnipresent God. So both started searching in the wrong direction. But still – there is a treasure in them! Jesus showed that clearly to us, when he met with the sinners no matter what the pharisees would think of him. So I guess if Jesus had met Lady Gaga he would have been seeing exactly what the article is telling about each one of us: always loved, always valuable, always enough – treasures. This does not mean that we have to tolerate sinful behaviour. Paul says: “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” (1.Thess.5.21) What I like most about Mozart is that his music is so innocent and pure.
Gordon,
Everyone’s human story is different, but no one’s is perfect. I don’t think Kristin is saying Lady Gaga is a modern-day Joseph. What I do hear her saying, though, is that God determines the worth of EVERY child of God. This is such a vital message for young women today. The world is constantly telling us that a woman’s worth is not innate but rather is based on how much (or little) they please others. If Lady Gaga understood even a fraction of what Kristin has come to realize about her true worth, I doubt she would be making the choices she has been making in life. What a great model Kristin has provided, though, by refusing to accept the label of worthlessness for any individual!
Moving-Forward, everything you just said — I completely agree with! I guess I didn’t get that message when I read this, because it did seem to me to be suggesting that Joseph and Lady Gaga were basically the same. But what you’ve said here does resonate with me, and you’re absolutely right that no one should be made to think that their worth on how much they please others. Your last sentence reminds me of something Dr. Seuss said: “A person’s a person, no matter how small.”
Thank you for sharing this with us. You know I never thought of contacting a Practioner over my issues. I always thought it was to insignificant, i guess thats another erroneous thought… By believing the lies I am giving them power that belongs only to God. Again thank you so much for your honesty. It has brought me to a realization! Just another reason I love this site!