True Colors

OK. I’ll admit it. I’m a sucker for pop culture.

I used to, I confess, look a bit down on it. Thought of myself as something of an intellect, I suppose. I remember huffing at my roommates’ US Weekly – before I would somehow strangely find it in my hands … But now the truth’s out in the open.

My latest obsession is Glee, which came about because of a hiatus in my other obsession, Gossip Girl (And yes, I think there might actually be a chance that I’m a 13-year-old girl.)

While I’m sure you in the U.S. have been watching for ages, Glee only landed in the U.K. recently and the minute I heard “Don’t Stop Believin’," I was hooked. Who wouldn’t be after hearing the theme song of karaoke bars around the world?

Don’t get me wrong. I’m still a bit of a snob about music. But the thing I’ve come to appreciate in my relatively old age is entertainment for entertainment’s sake. I used to believe that a movie or a TV show weren’t worth my time if they weren’t thought provoking. Now, like John Sullivan in Sullivan’s Travels, I’ve realized that there are enough hard things in this world. Sometimes you just need to laugh.

What surprises me so often about pop culture, though, is how it will show me some truth I’d forgotten. Like last week’s Glee, when they sang "True Colors" at the end of the show – and it was somehow something I needed to hear. That who I am is unique and precious. Leave it to Cyndi Lauper.

That’s also the thing about God that surprises me. How he can use even a pop song to reach me exactly where I’m at.