A dirty word whispered ominously in the hearts of overworked, underpaid, sleep-deprived mothers everywhere. Granted, this crafty, creative, often thrifty, pool of information DOES have its valuable, lifesaving benefits.
However. Oh, however.
"Comparison is the thief of joy." ~ Theodore Roosevelt
And that's exactly what Pinterest does. At least for me. I focus on what others are doing, which causes me to focus on what I am NOT doing.
But I had a moment. A moment where the Holy Spirit whispered louder than Pinterest. Here's my story, Mornin' Glory...
My sweet Ellie Rose's birthday. She wanted a Dora the Explorer cake. Oh, but that's only after she changed her mind. A hundred times. And this was the "final" request. The night before her school "party". So I figured that Wal-Mart would save the day. I figured SURELY there would be a Dora cake there. I mean, come on. So I got up early the morning of [figuring that there would "fresh" cakes ready for my choosing...], drove to Wal-Mart with high hopes.
But that was not to be. I almost cried. But the Holy Spirit prays for me with prayers that can not be uttered. And He pointed me towards a beautiful rainbow cake. And some Dora stickers. And He gave me a plan!
Sit. Down. Pinterest.
I took these lovely little Dora sticker, stuck them to a toothpick, covered them with heavy-duty packing tape, and VOILA! A Dora the Explorer cake. Thank you very much. And I just KNEW that my sweet girl love it. I, the mama, saved the day. Ta. Da.
But I have to tell you what happened next.
The Holy Spirit wasn't finished whispering.
For whatever reason, my sweet son decided that it would be fun to push all of those wonderful make-shift Dora decorations down into the icing. Every. Single. One.
I literally wept. I was exhausted. I thought I had risen to the ranks of "super mom". I thought I had beaten Pinterest.
But the Lord wanted to remind me that comparison is the thief of joy. I didn't need to compare myself to anyone. Except for my Savior. My pride-- in myself-- had grown so quickly that I didn't even realize it was there. But the Lord so graciously allowed for me to be taught by that precious one that I am blessed to call "son".
[And now that I am away from the trauma of it all, I have to confess that I completely "get" why he pushed those puppies down. He just wanted to know what would happen, how far they would go. (I myself have had to stifle such impulses)]
And I was able to show him grace. Because the Lord shows ME grace. And I have done so much more than just push down stickers-on-a-stick in the icing.
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| It still turned out pretty great, huh? (Yes, I wrote that "happy birthday" all by myself!) |
