Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Accomplishing an Image

What, exactly, is it I want to accomplish?
I think the list of things changes, depending on where I am and what I'm doing.
As a mom of very young children, the stock answer was always “a clean house” but when I'm honest with myself, what I really wanted to accomplish was to do things in a way that would make it obvious I was a good wife and mom. I think that was because I really wasn't sure I was; in fact, I was pretty sure I wasn't.
Funny, isn't it, how easily we fall into worldly traps? What did it mean to be a good wife and mom? In the town where we lived then, it meant to be involved with your kid's activities. It meant to have a house with no clutter and a clean kitchen. It meant your yard looked pretty and your husband looked happy. It meant you smiled when you met someone at the grocery store.
As long as I took that as the standard for “being a good wife and mom” I was caught in a worldly trap – basing my evaluation of myself on other people's standards.
But God has other ideas, I think. He wants us to evaluate ourselves on His standards.
That's where that image of God, Jesus, comes in.
As far as I know, Jesus never kept house. I'm not ruling it out, but we don't have a record of it!
But we do have a record of how He loved and cared for people, and if that isn't the essence of being a “good wife and mom” I don't know what is. He lived out the picture – the image – of what God has in mind for us, of what God longs for us to do and be.
The funny thing is, when I thought about it, that's what I really wanted to accomplish.

1 comment:

megs @ whadusay said...

Holly - I LOVE this post. Comparison with anyone or anything other than Jesus is a trap.

As Susie Larson says, If you compare yourself to those above you, you struggle with jealousy. If you compare yourself with those below you, you struggle with pride.

It just doesn't work. And yet, I find myself falling into the trap way to often.

Thanks for the reminder!