Leadership Journal

I stopped by the food market on a snowy evening last week. When I found what I came for, I joined other customers in the 10-items-or-less check-out line. While waiting my turn, I noted the racks of gossip magazines and tabloids that hedged us in on either side.

There was no Foreign Policy Digest, Atlantic Monthly, or Harvard Business Review on those racks. (Oh, the shock!) Rather, the subject material was all about rumor, scandal, and the social silliness of celebrities.

While I never buy these magazines (or admit doing so), it is hard to muffle one's curiosity as to what's behind those covers. After all, who wouldn't want to know about how to lose 50 pounds in one week without dieting and why Brad hit that photographer and where Tom and Katie went on their vacation? The publishers of these pieces know us rather well. They know that nosiness often trumps propriety. We like knowing other peoples' secrets.

I was doing rather well at ignoring all this stuff until I saw the cover of People magazine. Its cover featured a photo of Kate Gosselin—she of the famed Jon and Kate reality TV show. Kate, along with her soon-to-be-divorced husband is the mother of eight children, and she has become a professional celebrity.

The Kate Gosselin on the front cover of People is a very attractive woman. And I think I know why. Before her photo-shoot, she spent 20 hours getting her hair done (with extensions, whatever that means) and her face newly made up (some meanies said "lifted up"). Who watched her eight children during all these hours is not mentioned.

The result of Ms. Gosselin's 20 hours in the makeup studio is impressive, and the photo is a witness to this. Of course, if a true professional spent that many hours working on my lined face and thinning hair, I can see how people might put me in a class with George Clooney. Well, maybe it would take 30 hours.

Beneath Ms. Gosselin's new beautiful face on the cover were these words: "I'm starting over!"

For the first time in my life (honestly!) I bought the magazine. I wanted to know what "starting over" meant to Kate Gosselin. And it turned out that starting over meant exactly what the front cover depicted: new face, new hair lead to a new life.

This would align with my suspicions about celebrityism: it's mostly about what one looks like … at surface level. Want more attention, more publicity, more fame? Just alter your appearance, buy new clothes, tell the paparazzi where you can be found and shout to the world, "I'm starting over." That should do it.

Actually, the core of the starting over idea is a concept that is very biblical. It is found in the earliest chapters of Scripture after humanity squandered most its privilege to enjoy an intimate connection with God. Biblical people came to describe the act of starting over with words like redemption or salvation or conversion. These words suggested a way back from separation from God: a new relationship, an authentic new life. Paul called it a new creation.

I think the biblical invitation to start over, to opt for life-change, is the most hopeful message the Bible offers. When a person is broken, heart-sick, utterly down for the count, the words, "Come unto me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest" can be of incalculable value, almost irresistible.

PAGE 1 of 3