Is life always perfect for people the way that their blogs show? Do we have a "fairy tale" idea about what all these people's lives are that make us feel inferior or inadequate? Sometimes, I do!
Many times after I read a blog, I walk away from my computer with one of two thoughts. "I am glad I am not alone," or "Wow, I wish I had or could do what they..."
The ones that I enjoy the most are the ones that show me their realness! (Is that a word?) The ones that I read over and over are the ones that tell me their kids are wild, messy, and at times unruly and their house is not always clean, and laundry is piled to the ceiling! Not because I take joy in others struggles but because I struggle with daily life at times too and it is helpful knowing I am well, okay!
So to enlighten you, my blog readers I thought I might help you feel YOU are not alone!
Things I struggle with or have struggled with!:
-potty on the bathroom floor (lucky if it is confined to the toilet area!)
-piles of clean laundry, sometimes folded, sometimes not!
-piles of dirty laundry, ALL over the house not just in the laundry area!
-fingerprints on every window lower that 3 feet! And the tall ones, well not really sure what the gooey stuff is on those!
-old furniture
-stained carpet, although my kids are NEVER allowed to eat anywhere except the dining room! (Yeah, sometimes that does not work either!)
-toothpaste stuck to bathroom counters and walls! (still not sure how that happens!)
-unmade beds
-messy rooms
-school books not in their places
-incomplete school work
-unswept floors (they ARE assigned to a specific person, however!)
-mouthy teenagers and younger ones too!
-sticky fingers and faces
-hidden cups with rotted milk in them!
-the feeling of frustration
-guilt
-wanting to be lazy! (luckily that is not an option for me!)
-the desire to eat out instead of MAKING a healthy meal ( I think that may refer back to the lazyiness issue!)
-tired of budgets or not having enough money to even stay on a budget ( that creates the problem of the ability to being ABLE to eat out thus solving my laziness issue!)
-the desire to have a brand new car or at least one made after the turn of the century!
-wanting a bigger house
-wanting a bigger yard
-I wonder what I am doing that will damage my kids forever or if ANYTHING I am doing will NOT damage my kids forever!
-the struggle to spend time alone with God
-wanting a vacation with ONLY my husband and no kids! (brings back the guilt thing!)
-wonder how everyone else has it all together and how I am the only one that seems to ever feel this way!
Okay, believe it or not, this is not a post of complaining!
I really am content more than not!
I would NEVER change my job or life for ANYTHING!
I love what God has given me and I know that I am truly blessed!
But...
I am just the kind of person that likes and needs to know it is okay to not be perfect and that every one's life is not as uncomplicated as it appears to be.
I need to be reminded that blogs are only a minuscule of one's life!
Bits and pieces!
The truth is, that if we could follow these bloggers day in and day out, myself included, we would realize that we are all people who have struggles and we ALL live a real life!
The pictures, you know the ones, ironed clothes, combed hair, beautiful backgrounds, are great! They usually show our children in their best moments, I have blogged them myself many times!
But the ones I really like are the ones I see with children having temper tantrums, bed heads, messy faces and tornado hit looking living rooms for the back drop.
They make me smile and somehow bring comfort to a sometimes weary body and soul!!
Yes, my house is usually sometimes a mess and it never fails, it is always at its worst when somebody decides to "drop in". (Which I still say is God's way of keeping me humble! )
Yes, my kids stink sometimes and they HAVE woke up to me noticing their toenails looking like they have been drug through a tar pit after I decided to NOT give them a bath the night before because I was, well... lazy!
Sometimes their attitudes just plain stink and sometimes mine does too!
They have seen me at my best and at my worst! (And my worst isn't pretty!)
My husband and I rarely ever argue or fight now, BUT we do disagree and we have had to LEARN how to deal with that! (that wasn't always pretty either!)
I don't always get up at the crack of dawn to be with my Jesus and I DO feel guilty when I don't! I hope the times I yell and over discipline my kids do not scar them for life!
I sometimes wonder how these gifts from God could ever "Rise up and call ME blessed!".
I wonder if I spend enough time with THEM and not too much time thinking about ME.
I wonder if I am kind enough, gentle enough, faithful enough, and walking with God enough for them to genuinely see Him in me.
One thing I do know, it is hard being a Godly wife and mom!
I can't do it alone!
When I try, that is where my troubles begin!
So although I am a real person and have just openly admitted many of my faults and failures, I have a God who is bigger than me and who promises to help me when I fail and when my humaness is more than obvious!
He has given me these treasures and they truly are treasures!
I will not always be this "in their faces".
Someday, they will have their own families and my face will be wrinkled and maybe not even thought of much anymore and or least in the back of their minds!
And hopefully they will think of calling ME for wisdom and they WILL hopefully rise up and call me blessed!
But for now, I will lean on what I know to be true, I cannot do it alone and God never intends for me too!
You either!
"Trust and obey for there is no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey!"
PS Some comments of your "realness" right about now would really help! Come on bloggers! Help me feel less exposed! :) Struggling with some guilt guys! Let us share in our faults!:) Remember I LOVE comments!
Have a REAL day!
