You may not desire someone's house or want to have it for yourself. You may not desire someone's wife, or his servant or servant girl or his ox or his donkey, or anything that belongs to someone else. Exodus 20:17, The Bible for the Deaf

 

Last year, I wrote about the lessons I learned from being a mom. Through the journey of parenting, I have learned a great deal about God’s love for us. I’ve learned a lot about life and occasionally, my husband and I have lengthy conversations about our own childhoods. The challenges of being parents prompt us to reflect on our own parents' decisions from years ago, giving us a new perspective.

 

This week, I want to pause again and reflect on the lessons motherhood has taught me.

 

As I sit and write this, I’m the mom of a very chatty three-year-old. And if all has gone well, by the time you read this, she has a little baby brother who’s just a week or two old.

 

One thing I’ve come to realise repeatedly over the past few years is that no one’s life is perfect.

 

Social media constantly confronts me with perfectly styled baby rooms, tidy homes, balanced meals, new cars, beautiful outfits, fit bodies and gorgeous vacations. Some of these people are friends, others are local influencers, and some are total strangers. It's just the curated content the algorithm throws my way based on the stage of my life or my online activity.

 

But goodness, it gets tough when you constantly stare at pictures of things that seem so flawless, especially when you know it doesn’t reflect your reality.

 

Luckily, I often get to chat with other moms about the challenges of motherhood; well-known moms and everyday moms, and that has helped me realise very quickly – things are not always rosy. Outside of the carefully selected photos, there are also tantrums, endless negotiations about clothes, tidying up and TV time. There’s often conflict, confrontation, bad days, sadness and messy homes.

 

No matter what stage of life you are in, it can often feel like other people have it better. And yes, it’s human nature to yearn for the seemingly “perfect” lives of others, but I believe there’s a very good reason why God addresses longing and desire so early in the Bible. I don’t think it’s just because jealousy is an ugly trait - it’s not healthy for us to look at other people’s lives and long for what they have. Not necessarily because we’ll act on those feelings, but because it causes us to overlook the good things in our own lives. Sometimes it may feel like someone else has everything and you have nothing, but most of the time, that’s simply not true.

 

We always have something to be grateful for. Each one of us has something in our lives that someone else would love to have.

 

Let’s trade desire for gratitude.

 

Prayer: Father, thank you so much for all the wonderful things I have in my life. Help me to see, anew, the many gifts, privileges and blessings in my life. Amen.