So often, when I read the blogs of friends and strangers, I get a picture in my mind of what their lives must be like...
* filled with well-prepared, nutritious and perfectly-presented meals,
* kids who are always smiling and well-behaved,
* homes that never have dust-bunnies, refrigerator science experiments or "what is that SMELL coming from the garbage?!"
* hours of nightly family Bible studies, deep, insightful, life-changing dinner-table discussions...
...you get the picture. And, it's easy for me to compare, get down on myself and think "Gosh, I am falling so short." After posting about my bread-baking, I thought, if I was reading that on someone else's blog, I would probably think "yeah, right, like I have time for THAT!" The truth is, I have been wanting to bake bread like that for several months, and it probably won't happen again any time soon!
But truly, blog life is just glimpses of our real lives - what we want the outside world to see (and let's be honest, with a blog the outside world could be anybody). Maybe it is also how we want to remember our lives when we look back in a year or more. Some folks just show pieces of their lives - cooking, home remodeling projects, crafting, theology. Others are brutally transparent and are an open book. I know for me, this blog is a way to record life, motivate me in many areas, but also to find beauty and joy in the mundane things I do from day-to-day.
I was recently inspired by a lady who humbly posted a picture of her dirty, in-need-of-scrubbing toilet on Facebook just to show the world that she didn't have it all together and that was ok. I often say that I feel more comfortable in people's homes when there are dirty dishes in the sink - it just feels more homey, real, like we are part of the family. So, here goes, some real life...
What my floors look like most days. No one warned me, before I became a mom, of the insidiousness of Cheerios (I find them, quite literally, EVERYWHERE in our house).
Unfortunately, more of this has been happening at our house than I'd like to admit. I wish I could say that my daughter never saw a television screen before the age of two, but Baby Einstein seems to be the only way to keep Nora from wanting to play in the garbage or empty the pantry while I'm making dinner!
Folks, this is about as bad as it gets.
Yes, that is my lower half. Yes, those are wool hiking socks, 15-year old Birkenstocks and some workout capries covered in flour. This is what my hubby came home to the day I made bread. Thankfully, I recently found this website. P.S. Please, don't nominate me for "What Not to Wear".
So, there you have it. A little bit of my daily dirt to balance out my last Suzy Homemaker post. Such a reminder of how abundantly gracious God is. He is teaching me how to better mother my daughter, but forgives me for the occasional mind-numbing, t.v.-babysitting session. He daily romances me despite my dirty workout wear, Birkenstocks and what you couldn't see in the picture. And, though my floors may be covered in cereal dust, He is slowly, but surely, cleaning and polishing my heart just for Himself.
4 comments:
I LOVED this post!! Thanks Katie! Instead of Cheerios, on my floors you will find Match Box cars (in almost every room). =)
Great post, Katie! I so appreciate the transparency. I waver between getting motivated and gathering ideas (that 9 times out of 10 I never follow through with) from people's blogs to wanting to throw up b/c I can't understand how they have time to sleep! So thanks for balancing us out.
amen, sistah! (and just so you know, i wrote that post before i even read about you baking your bread.) :)
So true! I know how to solve the cheerio problem, though. Get a dog! Our mutts eat everything the girls drop (except lettuce, they do have standards-their just really low). They even lick up spilled milk and juice. It really saves a lot of time.
I horrified an old man at church once when our foster baby spit up on the floor during sunday school. He kindly offered to get some paper towels for me and before thinking I blurted out "Yeah, I guess I should wipe that up. I'm so used to the dogs licking it up at home that it didn't even occur to me". How's that for transparency? Humiliation and transparency all wrapped up in one :)
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