Motherhood Monday: From This to That

Welcome to another Motherhood Monday! This is the day dedicated to all things "mommy" related. Check here each Monday for a new post. 

Today I want to talk with you about expectations of yourself. Have you ever been on social media (of any kind) when all of the sudden you just feel awful about yourself? Let me give you some examples.

You see these perfect images of people that just "love their sweet baby SO much" and it was posted at 2 am. At 2 am you certainly aren't thinking of how much you love your sweet baby when they won't  sleep. This is usually the same person that says things like, "him being awake is just extra snuggle time!"

How bout the people that  "just finished a quick 3 mile run" at 6 in the morning while their spouse in deployed. You meanwhile are sitting at your kitchen table in your pajamas at 9 am watching your "sweet babies" dump food on the floor... again. 

I've been there. One of my mentors once told me that people don't put their behind the scenes film on social media, they put their highlight reel. And she was exactly right! 

The pictures up top were taken just two hours apart. The top one was taken at 6:45 in the morning after I had been up most of the night with my youngest son. I am exhausted and worn out. My hair is EVERYWHERE and my skin felt oily and gross.  The lower picture was taken about two hours later when we were getting ready to leave for church. I had makeup on, my hair was (relatively!) tamed. I had on a real shirt rather than one of my husband's training shirts. I felt put together. THAT is the picture that most people put up. They don't put up the first one, because that might show that you don't have it all together. Life might be less than perfect. 

Are you ready for a secret? 

Life isn't perfect. 

It can't be. 

We live in a fallen world.

Children are going to be up all night, husbands will be TDY, sometimes you can't get from this to that. Sometimes your life isn't going to be as smooth as you would like it to be. But that is reality. Know that your value is found in Christ Jesus and not in what people see of you on social media. 

Don't let mommy guilt steal your joy. 

You are fantastic mama, keep shining.  

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