Little Barn on the Farm

I always joke and say “we live in the best of times and the worst of times.” There are so many blessings in this day and time. Like, just how I’m able to write directly to you to encourage you, share life with you, and to all our sisters ALL OVER THE WORLD! That’s incredible.

And, I mean, let’s thank JESUS for online grocery shopping and delivery. I used to get up on Saturday mornings and be AT THE GROCERY between 6:45am-7:15am while the family was still in bed! I could zip in and out without an infant in the seat of the grocery cart and a toddler handing off the side. But, ain’t no body got time for even THAT these days! Bahahahaha!

TIP OFF THE OLD BLOCK

If you STILL enjoy HANDS-ON grocery shopping like my sister Jamie and her husband, early Saturday morning is THE TIME to go. They are fully stocked for the weekend rush and everyone else is not yet up and running. It really is quite magical!

But, if we’re REAL, with today’s conveniences and pleasures come some not-so-sweet things. For one, there’s a downside to things like social media (yep, sure is). (Wait – is it “yep” or “yup”? Let me know in the comments. For som reason, when I see “yup” in a text, it kind of annoys me. Bahahahaha!)

So here’s truth.

I remember when I activated my Facebook account many years ago, back when you needed a college email to sign up. Was anyone else on FB then? Let me know! (I know I’m not alone here). A friend once said to me, “All of your pictures look great on Facebook.” I was kind of surprised and said “Who posts the bad ones?” I wish I had a photo of my shocked face because it would have said, “Duh!” It was quite natural to me to delete all the bad pictures and only shared the good ones. It’s about like hiding the mess in your house when company comes over. We’ve learned to hide the messes of real life, which makes us not relatable.

Our hidden mess is not real life. And what we have done for years on social media is – you can quote me – “we compare the totality of our lives, to the best, and often false, presentation of the lives of others.” It’s so true. And it’s so NOT healthy. And yet there we are, scrolling, suddenly finding the joy in our day drained away as we compare. Then complain. Suddenly, our lives aren’t as good as we thought they were or wished they were…

… wow, he took her there.

… geez, she can afford that.

… I wish my kids were that successful in school… sports…

… I really wish I had her hair.

…I wish I could be a stay at home mom.

…I wish I had job outside of this house.

And on and on we go!

“We compare the totality of our lives to the best, and often false, presentation of the lives of others on social media.”

Mel – Little Barn On The Farm

Let’s make a deal! Let’s decide to JUST BE REAL! Let’s consciously and confidently choose to celebrate ourselves rather than compare ourselves on social media and in our everyday lives. Let’s fully embrace who we are and become who we were meant to be. God created each of us for a purpose and we cannot ACTIVELY live in that purpose whilePASSIVELY watching everyone else live theirs! (Or, in some cases, watching the FALSE presentations of their’s).

And the truth is, you can learn to recognize your strengths and celebrate them. And you can, without guilt, shame, or apathy, recognize your weaknesses and deficits and intentionally work towards growth in those areas FOR THE RIGHT REASONS! I’ll put it this way as I heard it once said, we can be “CONTENT, BUT CONTENDING FOR MORE!”

And who knows! One days those messes may become a message and who knows who you’ll help and inspire from what you’ve learned and grown in!

Now go be the REAL you! The YOU God meant for you to be!

See ya tomorrow!

Love,

Mel