DISCLAIMER: I love Pinterest. I have tens of personal boards and even one where my psychology students submit their work. I have hundreds of recipes, party ideas, home remodels, teaching ideas, and a zillion other topics. Feel free to follow me. I think its a wonderful use of technology. I am old enough to remember saving magazine pages for the same reason. PINTEREST is great! BUT…
With the advent of social media and apps like Pinterest, parties, redecorating and events have grown to a whole new level. I LOVE looking at birthday parties these days. It has come a long way from the homemade cake and ice cream at the dinner table and if you were really together, the corner of the McDonalds playground with climbing toddlers. With all good things, Satan comes in and twists it for his gain. Wait…am I saying that Satan uses it? YES, I AM! Since Eden, Satan has used good things to tempt women and make us feel “less” in our own eyes. We have all felt it. We tend to compare and contrast our lives with others and ALWAYS we come up short. Why? Because what we see on the outside is not what is on the inside of people’s lives. The Lord addressed it several thousand years ago:
1 Samuel 16:7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
David was at the bottom of man’s list for King of Israel. He was at the top of God’s list. God knew his heart. It always comes down to our hearts. Always….
My son regularly says that HGTV is the bane of the modern man’s life. I know I up my “remodeling game” regularly with my special shows and there is nothing wrong with it UNTIL dissatisfaction creeps in and I lose my heart of gratitude. I love me some Joanna and Chip. I was raised in a housing project in Little Rock with parents who struggled with substance abuse and from an early age, I felt “less” and never brought friends into my home. Those childhood thoughts still creep into my brain still in my fifties. Satan likes it when I feel less than the others around me. God wants me to have a heart of gratitude and feel the SPIRIT work in me to fullness. I still find myself falling into the insecurity trap. When I feel I have to prove myself, I know Satan is in the mix. I have nothing left to improve, contrast, compare, impress, “keep up with the Joneses” or create when HE has completed me.
Birthday parties, cozy homes, beautiful gardens, tasty recipes, crafty weddings, and educational schema are all great things that can be used in kingdom work. All of those things make me happy as a woman of God. They can all be part of a wonderful life in our temporary home. BUT (and here it comes…)
I see a great deal of exhaustion and financial strain in our community of believing women. We have bought the LIE that we have to be perfect homemakers and women. I identify with Martha daily. I would naturally be the one helping in the kitchen rather than sitting at Jesus’s feet. Ouch..that hurts but it is my truth. It’s ok to leave the laundry on the couch, send a kid to bed without a bath, reheat leftovers, stop by the bakery for store-bought goodies or whatever you fill in the blank with. The party doesn’t have to be Pinterest-worthy. The kids are just as happy playing ball in the yard. Bigger is not better. Release yourself. Read to your kids, cook together, play in the yard, pick the garden, ride bikes and sit in the pews together. Your kids will be more grounded when you get back to simpler, time-tested love. They learn more math cooking with you than with flashcards and computer programs. This goes for grandmothers and aunts too.
It’s OK not to do “all the things”. All of the things have already been done in you by CHRIST. The rest is just window-dressing. Maranatha! Jayme
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