What We Really Should be Teaching our Daughters about Taylor Swift, Boyfriends and Success

 

I am no Swiftie, but my young daughters are. My daughters are not big NFL fans, but their parents are. This season's combination of TSwizzle and pro football was nothing but sheer entertainment for our family of six. Including the reactions of the social media world. Americans seem to either love and worship the duo or vehemently hate and demonize them.

Well surprise, surprise: I hold a different perspective than most Americans.  My daughters aren't witnessing me hate Taylor but they have heard me repeatedly say I would never switch lives with her. While hating a person is always wrong, elevating these two celebs - or any created being - to be gods is also to err.  

The above meme is inadvertently communicating that all the young girls of the world should strive to be Taylor Swift.  She's the standard. And parents who don't encourage their kids to reach earthly success well they gotta just do better.

 I unreservedly disagree.

 To unwittingly communicate that Taylor is the pinnacle of worth is in actuality doing our daughters an incredible disservice.

  You and I both know (albeit deep down) that a person's worth is not even remotely relevant to their Grammy nominations, their private jets, their Tik-Tok followers, or if they have a boyfriend with three championship rings who can body slam his coach and get away with it. 

To encourage our daughters to contend to become Taylor Swift is essentially saying they are only as good as fame and success. They are only as good as what they can achieve. Why, why, why are we encouraging our daughters to weigh their worth against Taylor Swift?

Adolescent girls already seem bent to do this. To measure their own value in comparison in particular to other girls. I know this from my own life. I regularly battled feeling less than when compared to my prom-queen-valedictorian-long-legged little sister. May we never relay to any person that their value is quantified solely how they contrast to other humans, how much stuff they accumulate, how they look or who they date.

Parents...Taylor Swift is not the standard of worth. Yes, let's do better. 

Furthermore, we don't have to look far to see that fame, monetary success and Super bowl championships rarely seem to lead to contentment. (See what Tom Brady thinks)

 

To be content in this life you need to go straight through the truth. And Jesus of Nazareth claims to be the truth. He also says: For what is it for a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 

Humanity is more than our high cheekbones and our capacity to catch a pigskin.  Human beings have souls. Therefore our identities are not simply our public personas or our social media images. 

We matter immensely because we are image-bearers of a good, Almighty God. He has breathed life into us and imbued us with value.  All that is right is defined in His character which He has made known in the life of Jesus of Nazareth.

If you likely have never given Jesus a passing thought or consider Him worth following then you likely also believe this life is all there is. 

May I implore you to consider the remarkable reasons to believe that the Bible explains the way the world is. * And because of that, this life is not all there is and in reality this life isn't even the point. 

We all know that beauty fades, fame dissipates and you can't take your money to the grave.

The point is not riches that don't last.

The point isn't building our own kingdoms and getting everyone and their mom to follow us on social media. We were created for more.

One thing I pray and hope that I leave my daughters with is that success in this life isn't what it seems. To be successful and content is to invest in what lasts. To be free to embrace what is good. And to discern who is good. To invest in our characters and rich relationships with people and Jesus.  Whom we choose to follow and worship has implications. In this life and the next.

Since Taylor chose Travis then she should by all means support him. I'm not gonna argue there. But please tell me  that you agree...Kelce's worldly accolades do not give Swift worth and make her bigger. No guy should ever define a girl's identity and from what I've seen (and I have actually watched a lot of pro football), Kelce's beard may be on point but he's not a good choice.

Girls should choose a guy who honors them and others. There are men out there who do the hard, good thing even when no one is watching. Who seek the good of another even if it is costly to him. Success and contentment is giving our daughters a firm lasting, freeing identity.

To all the girls of the world you matter. You are too dignified to define yourself by a man who thinks he's worthy of worship. Seek who's really worthy of our worship and adoration. Jesus of Nazareth who came to die for you.

 To all the honest skeptics it's worth noting that the Bible teaches that people cannot be made right with a perfect holy God by their own doing. Christianity is the only religion where we must receive our identity. We don't achieve our identity. John 1:12 To all who believe in Him, He gave the right to become children of God.

A person can never made be smaller or less by another. Let's communicate the truth better. 

*One such reason: There are 59 facts in the New Testament book of John that only an eyewitness would be able to record.

 

https://nypost.com/2024/02/20/sports/why-audio-of-travis-kelces-super-bowl-blowup-at-andy-reid-got-buried/