Keeping It Real

I've had friends who follow my blog or my posts on Facebook ask me if my life is really so wonderful and my relationships so perfect.  This is because they have fallen into the trap of comparing themselves to my strengths or really up moments.  I have bad days.  My kids are not perfect either.  So just because I typically focus on the positive doesn't mean that I don't have my own flaws and problems to deal with.  Following in a true story to help everyone feel better.

About two weeks ago it was really cold out.  Our first real cold snap with temperatures in the 30s at night.  Well, on one of those days, when my mom was in town and Neal was home sick, sleeping, I asked Rhys to do his chore and put some cards out in the mail and told him Grandma and I were going to take Sophie to gymnastics.  He went out the front door and Mom, Sophie, and I out the back.  We returned home and hour and 15 minutes later or so to find Neal on the couch with a big quilt wrapped around a teary Rhys.  What happened?

Yep, the door sticks and he went to put the mail out and could not get back in.  He was wearing a short sleeve shirt, jeans, and no shoes with temperatures in the 40s.  All his knocking and door bell ringing could not wake his Dad so he sat and cried at the door step for 40 minutes!  He did not know what to do.  Finally an angel of a girl rode by on her bike, recognized Rhys from school, and stopped to see what was going on.  She helped him knock on the door until Neal awoke and took Rhys in to get him warmed up.

I felt so entirely bad.  I was so disgusted with myself even though I knew it was a mistake. Mother of the Year Award!  Uhg!  Later I held him and we talked about it, I apologized, and talked about what to do in similar circumstances.

That door has now been fixed.

See real life happens here.  Our family is mortal.  We just tend to share our good stuff while we privately work on the garbage of life.  And please know that God does not want us to compare ourselves to others. That is a real trap that Satan sets for us. And yes, I beleive Satan really exsists, though he would love if we'd all just gloss over that detail.

We are of the greatest worth to God just as we are today.  He loves us as the wonderful, broken creatures we are.  He takes us wherever we are and works with us from that point.  We are not earning His love, we already have it.  He just smooths out our rough edges, making us more fit for His kingdom.  My rough spots may not be the same as your rough spots but I feel the sanding and polishing on my spots just like you do on yours.  The awesome thing is He is creating beautiful, distinctively different masterpieces, but only if we let Him.  Let's let Him, and not compare.