Be joyful always.

A few days ago, a friend on Facebook posted a picture of their dinner she just made. I inspected the picture and mentally noted the healthy meal they were about to devour. I'll let you in my brain for a minute. My thoughts: "What a good mom. hmm, I'm serving fried chicken, Bummer. Bad mom. UGH guilt tastes bitter." Does anyone else follow me? I don't need to lose weight and nor do I want to. My husband would like to drop a few. Anyway, the guilt for me is simply because I wasn't choosing the healthy option for my family. Not sure if this is the "mom" in me, but I can become so fixed on what I'm doing wrong that it becomes a distraction. It steals the joy out of me.

This was my husbands breakfast yesterday. All right, mine too since I would have felt guilty eating a hash brown so I had one too. Ugh, I know. This is a kale shake. Let me be clear, we are not organic health nuts. Organic takes $$$. And even if we had a disposable income, we probably wouldn't be the organic health nuts. My husband and I have been chasing our 'starting line' for healthier eating for a while, and now that we found it we are taking baby steps. We're even starting a garden this spring as a project for kids, healthier eating, help the budget kind of thing, etc.. Maintaining budgets and waistlines one baby step at a time. Okay, but still all this focus on what I'm not doing, the comparing, and mom guilt is a distraction from my joy. This is just one example of "mom guilt", there were plenty to choose from and since kale shake was still in my mind, and mouth, I chose the health guilt.

Some background: We're a family of four on a ministers salary; and food has been a considerably large chunk of our budget. Idealistically, I'd love to have a pantry and fridge stocked full with healthy foods. In reality its not the case. We're not junk food hoarders, but we do have some junk.  And trying to feed my family healthy, tasty, affordable food is a tall order. (sigh) Doable, but a challenge for sure...Then there is Pinterest. I love Pinterest, but it's constantly showering me with oodles of yummy dinner ideas. Expensive, exotic, mouth watering, dinner ideas. It adds to the grocery list, and slaps our budget across the face. Such a distraction to me! I say a distraction because this has been my thinking pattern lately, "IF we just had a little more money in our budget we could afford those healthy meals, and be healthier...." Ahh, don't get me wrong, Pinterest is great, really great IF done right. I just have to check myself daily before I open the doors to it. If you're familiar with Pinterest you'll know they have these cool DIY projects, tips on saving money, budgeting, creative ideas for the kids, quotes, parenting stuff, healthy eating/living, etc. Its GREAT! I sometimes allow my mind to wander into "What IF land."  And that should not be my focus. Those thoughts are the distraction from my focus. My focus is on giving thanks in all circumstances.

1 Thessalonians 15:16-18 (NIV) says, "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." Great verse. Love it, love it, love it. It's a challenge for me, but GREAT reminder. I don't have room in my heart to be joyful if I am constantly thinking about these distractions. These distractions lead me down the wrong path, the path of comparing....then guilt, you get it.

....I'm in a women's group at church, and its been really great. Together we study scripture. The stuff that is worth focusing on, scripture. It keeps my thoughts on the right path when I study it. When I don't study scripture, I get distracted. Those distractions suck the joy right out of me. Last week our topic was about Thanksgiving. The main verse was the one stated above.  "...Give thanks in all circumstances...". That got me good. There are plenty of different distractions to write on, healthy eating was just one example.

 If we truly understood the grace God has for us, we would have a cup overflowing with gratitude. There would be no room for guilt, selfishness, or the other distractions in life. From the overflowing cup of grace would produce gratitude, and gratitude births joy. And we are called to be joyful always.... To pray continually. To give thanks in all circumstances. Gosh, I have a lot to be thankful for. A lot, even in the rough times. Praise God.