reality check….

little man was in school, i’d just finished my work for the morning, put a load of laundry in the washer (which i just realized is still in the washer – makes the point of this post SOOO much more relevant!) and i was perusing the new DaySpring Fall Catalog (fabulous, faith-based items for yourself, your home or for gifts! click on the pic to view!) i was reading the artists’ bios and posts…..Ann talks about counting every thing as a blessing and she writes them all down as a reminder. Lisa-Jo shares with us her home in Christ. Melissa discusses her muse: God. women who are living for the Lord, raising their families in the Word and living out their dreams. so much talent, so much passion. i want to be them! and that becomes my goal for the day and my obsessive thought….”how do i become more like them?” and i imagine their happy families and clean houses and wonderfully successful businesses and eternally artistic inspiration and calm households and serene lives. i.will.be.that.woman!

and then i picked my son up from school. my son, who held me personally responsible for tearing him away from his best and only friend in the whole wide world. and we arrived home to an ever-ringing phone. then i decided to try to get my betty crocker on. i pictured my son and i working in the kitchen like the pictures in those parenting magazines. because i.am.that.woman. right? after spilled sugar, felled apple peels and dealing with one supremely distracted – though talkative – child, i realized……..i am NOT that woman. i am not calm. i am not serene.

instead of calm, serene woman, i became sad, discouraged, aggravated woman…… why can’t i be like them? for all appearances, i have the same makings for peace and serenity and ‘success’ as they do: God, a faithful family, the opportunity to do what i enjoy for a living….but then it hit me. appearances. duh! i'm standing on the outside looking in. did they tell me that their lives were perfect? nope. did i assume? yup. do they - on occasion - have piles of dirty laundry, a sink full of dishes and children who sometimes have a tendency to whine? i bet they do. God did not promise me a clean house. God did not promise me a perfectly behaved child. but as i mentioned before:

jeremiah 29:11 says “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

i may not have it all together all the time (or any of the time!) but God does. he knows where i’m going and how he’s gonna get me there. God’s got my back. trust ;-)