When the Picture isn’t Perfect

When I was 10 years old my parents would send me to bed at around 8:30. I used to think that they stayed up all night eating ice cream and having tons of fun while I was sitting in a room trying to fall asleep.  My perfect picture of the adult life was far from the reality. I find that my pictures and my expectations of most areas of my life are far from what actually happens.

Motherhood is no exception, there are things that happen in parenting that are far from perfect. Miscarriages, unplanned  pregnancies, infertility,  disabilities, wayward children, single parenthood, death of a child, rebellion, the list is never ending. My oldest child spends the majority of her life in a hospital. Not quite the big happy family dinners where we all sit at the table and have sweet conversations about our days. It’s more like tube feeding our oldest while we throw some cheerios on a high chair for my youngest and eat whatever isn’t expired in our fridge, because we know the second we fill up our fridge with fresh fruits and veggies our oldest will get an unexpected sickness and we will be heading to the hospital and filling our fridge will go to waste.

Maybe you have been exactly where we are, or maybe you are in a season of longing for children as you continue to get invited to baby shower after baby shower. Maybe you are coping with the loss of a child, an unloving spouse, or a pregnancy at the simingly wrong time. People around you may seem to be having those perfect family dinners, let this thought free you from any  jealousy or self pity that this season may be bringing you : I have never known anyone whose family planning has gone just as they pictured it.

I had to pause at this and let it really sink in when I first heard it. Looking at each of my friends’ and family members’ lives I could see where their lives fell short of the perfection they once longed for. I stopped looking so inwardly at where my life didn’t go as pictured and realized we are ALL broken because we live in a fallen world. This brokeness creates a need for a savior, Jesus Christ. It stems in us a dependence and hope in the perfection that is to come and the miraculous work of turning our messy lives into something good. It’s my hope to touch on the imperfections of parenting and how we can use God’s word and truths to free us from self-made barriers, and just be a voice that partners with you in these hardships and trials life throws.