Contentment (revisited)

I wrote a post a couple weeks ago about contentment. About how contentment is not about settling, but about trusting God that things will happen in His timing, the right timing. You can read it here if you feel so inclined.

God is still dealing with me about the whole area of contentment. It's an ongoing battle, but the latest front in this battle deals with the subject of comparison. The Internet (Facebook, Twitter, Blogs) feeds comparison like nothing else. How often do we look at other mothers and wives, and think, based upon the very small glimpse of life we get to see, that "she must be a better mother and/or wife than I"? How often do we post pictures, stories, comments, etc. trying to make ourselves look better . . . trying to one-up someone else? Wow! Did I just say that?!? I'm not pointing any fingers, but I'm admitting I've struggled with both. Ummm . . . please don't hate me . . . But let's face it, none of us put out there that we just had a fight with our husband, yelled at our kids, and ate a pound and a half of fudge, and I'm not asking you to. I'm just saying we tend to put our best foot forward when it comes to the world wide web.

Clearly, I know pride and trying to impress others is wrong. It's ridiculous and petty, and I should know better. But God is also showing me that it's equally as wrong to measure our self worth, our "goodness" as wives, or mothers, or whatever it is against others. God didn't create us to go around comparing ourselves to others. He created us to commune with Him. He created us to love Him and to accept His love. And in that there's no room for either comparison or pride.

So I'm learning to be content with who I am. I'm not saying that I need to stop growing or changing as God leads, but I need to stop trying to be perfect. I need to stop trying to do God's job for Him. I need to realize that He sees me as redeemed by His blood, and that my friends is a beautiful thing!