Can we talk? My dear readers, today I want to talk to you about keeping it real.
A friend at church on Sunday, commented that my house must be immaculate with everything in perfect order…or at least it seemed that way as she viewed my posts on this blog.
She was not being critical…she sounded a bit in awe!
Confession time.
We all love happy endings and you know I am the eternal optimist and romantic lady!
I love knights in shining armor, softly falling rain and fairy tale endings.
Unfortunately, social media sometimes gives us an impression of a perfect home and life for everyone living the American dream.
We sigh as we flip through the pages of our favorite magazine and see beautiful, glossy pictures of a perfect dream kitchen….with a lovely vase of flowers cuddling home made cinnamon rolls, the plate and fork and napkin inviting us to come on in, sit down and indulge our appetites. We can almost smell the fresh baked aroma.
Another social media is Pinterest where the recipes all look like perfection.
Hmmmmmm…sometimes my recipes don’t turn out perfection, of course one must never rule out operator error as a dear friend once said to me. 🙂
Or perhaps we see a Blog with a living room in perfect colors and just the right amount of sunlight streaming over the freshly, fluffed pillows. Nothing is out of place and perhaps a touch of envy might creep into our thoughts.
We might sigh as we look at our own living room with the day’s paper laying on the coffee table, in place of the cute vignette of must read books and on-trend lamp clustered on a breakfast tray in the magazine picture.
And we might feel a bit inadequate.
But we shouldn’t feel that way.
We don’t know what goes on behind the scenes to prepare for that glossy picture.
We don’t see the toys on the floor just moments before the photo shoot or the dog chewing on a favorite well-used piece of rawhide or the baby spitting up all the pureed peas on the counter, completely missing the small piece of plastic called a bib.
And then you may turn the page and read that in exchange for the magazine photo layout of a backyard patio, the person was compensated with a teak dining table and chairs, adorned with bright-colored cushions and gorgeous place settings, along with matching umbrella, a built in Bar-B-Q grill and outdoor rug.
And the “thoughts” in your mind, rush in like the gushing waters of a flood, no matter how hard you try to hold them back.
You say to yourself, I could do that too, if everything was given to me as it was to the recipient of the compensation gifts.
Instead, we budget for things like that, our hard earned money is used for important things like food and clothing.
And then, perhaps you/we/me justify just as quickly with denial saying;
Well, I wouldn’t like those lime green cushions on those weird looking chairs and I certainly don’t like the shape of that Bar-B-Q grill.
But that is just our built-in psychological defense mechanism.
Although it is a natural feeling, we should not entertain negative thoughts.
These can turn into self-doubt and depression.
Thoughts like these can steal our joy and creativity if we let them.
Thoughts of doubt and fear are pathways to failure and a total waste of time.
- Proverbs 23:7a [If you give place to negative thoughts, you will become a negative person.] For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.
Real life is not a fairy tale with fictional characters who live happily ever after in the cute little cottage in the forest with seven little men doing all the cooking and cleaning.
Real life is now you are the matriarch in your family…everyone else has passed on.
Real life is a sister a year younger in a nursing home with dementia and no cure.
Real life is children and grandchildren living 1500 miles away.
Real life can be joy and happiness as we live each day with positive thoughts and actions.
Remember: “For as she thinketh in her heart, so is she.”
So, the next time you see one of my photos on this blog, …and it looks like everything is in place….just smile, because during my intense photo taking, Jesse James may have just pooped on the floor, trying to get my attention to let him out to do his bizzness!
Have a great and blessed day!
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