Cheetos

The other day I was in the grocery store with my two littles and suddenly I felt a little panicked. Grace had not started to cry {yet}, Riley was still in a reasonably good mood and hadn't broken anything or tipped any shelves over. My panic wasn't from fear that my children would team up against me and I'd go running out of the store pulling my hair out, it was from a little thought that I had about the food I feed my family and how I'd like to use less processed foods....

I was holding a bag of Cheetos {one of Riley's favorite treats} and I just stopped, right there in the middle of the store. To all the others around me, I probably looked like I was either having a mental breakdown or that I have some sort of sick obsession with Cheetos. Either way, I felt terrible for even  considering buying this horrible bag of poison because I have recently set a goal to use/buy little to no processed foods. There is nothing wrong with that goal, in fact I really hope I'm able to implement making more of our foods from scratch, but I don't want to do so out of guilt or not be able to flex a little here and there. It certainly is noble to want to feed my family healthy foods and I want to train my children to make good food choices, but I also don't want to bring up rigid children that fear getting fake cheesy orange hands and eating a Cheeto every now and then.

Needless to say, I ended up buying the Cheetos and it really got me thinking about everything out there us mamas face that put pressure on us to be this or that, and if/when we don't measure up,  we should feel bad.

I don't have all cloth diapered, pristine children dressed in brand new Gymboree clothing everyday. I don't have a pottery barn inspired home decorated on a dime budget.

I don't make an organic, 5 course, 100% homemade meal every night. I don't make delicious desserts, eat them all and yet stay super thin. I don't work out everyday for "just five minutes and have a great butt". I don't make homemade gifts for everyone I give a gift to....and you get the idea. 

I feel like sometimes I have to take a step back and unplug. I love Pinterest, Blogger, Facebook, Twitter, etc. but sometimes it can just all be too much. Too much pressure to measure up and to keep up. I can't do it. So I look to the Lord. What's important to Him? I doubt He cares if I make the same tired and true chicken dish I've always made or the "world's yummiest chicken" made with Hungarian paprika I'd have to travel to Timbucktoo to find. My ratio of homemade decor in my home doesn't define who I am as a homemaker, but sometimes I lose sight of that as I scroll through the world wide web.What matters to Jesus is that I bring glory to Him as I move toward becoming more like Him and less like me {John 3:30}

Today I wanted to encourage other mamas and myself to remember we first and foremost serve the Lord in what we do. HE loves us for who we are not for what we can do or make. Pinterest is fun, but I will never be able to make all the crafts I see or dishes I drool over. That's life. Blogger can be encouraging, but sometimes I read and feel like other moms are just way better at doing fun and exciting things with their kids, then come home with professional looking photos and blog about it that night. This morning I'm sitting at the cross and asking the Lord to be glorified through my parenting and life. I might not always measure up against what the internet says is out there, but that's not what matters, what matters is I'm who the Lord chose to mother Riley and Grace. That day in the grocery store Riley got to get some Cheetos, and that's ok.

 

{this post was written for "Mindful Mothering Mondays" head on over to read more posts and encouragement from other mamas. If you have posts you'd like to include, all are welcome!}