We are NOT perfect!!!

 it is easy to look on FB and compare yourself to others and think that every mom has it together, with perfect children, in a perfect house, with a perfect marriage, and a perfect life, but the fact of the matter is, its just not true! not even close!

While I love FB, what I don't love is the fact that it paints a picture of perfection. It only shows people what you want them to see. they don't see the huge mess going on in your house, the temper tantrums your kids are throwing, the piles of laundry sitting around waiting to be done, or the fight you just probably had with your spouse. they see a "perfect" picture of your life...not your real one! its easy as mom to always compare yourself to others...I have struggled with it too and still often do. when we do this we are basically telling God, "hey you know all this amazing stuff you have blessed me with, well I don't like it and I want what others have instead". why can't we be thankful? why can't we change our attitude and be happy for others while also being thankful for what we have?

I have decided that I want to try to be more transparent with the ups and downs of my life.  I want to be more thankful for EVERYTHING! We have been so blessed. in the last few weeks I have removed the chains that once held me back of comparing my life to others.  that is a pointless thing to do, my life will never reflect that of others, because I have different people in my life and a different situation... when we are so busy comparing ourselves to others we don't leave any time to seek out the beauty and uniqueness of what we have been given. and why on earth would we all want to be the same anyways? why would we all want to live the exact same life? that would be BORING! I want to be honest, I am not a perfect mom, I do not have perfect kids, I do not have a perfect husband... the fact of the matter is the only thing in my life that is perfect is My God! I am a work in progress, along with my kids and my spouse. we don't live in a perfect house, we don't have it perfectly decorated, and my laundry is not perfectly folded and put back in its place after being washed. I AM HUMAN! we have great days in our house, and we have not so great days too. we have days of laughter, and we have days filled with tears. the only thing that remains constant in this house is that at the end of the day we love each other and we are thankful! We are thankful for everything, even the fact that nothing is perfect!

when we are so busy trying to be perfect then we lose our ability to be a relateable encouragement to others and let them know that hey, we have days like that too...

so here is my challenge to you; let down your gaurd, throw away that picture of perfection, admit that some days are rough, stop comparing yourself to others, start being thankful for what you have, and when we do this, I think we will all learn that we have a lot more in common :)