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Chapter 10: Surviving School – Pages 63-69

It was nearly five years ago when I first heard about Pinterest.  It was the early days when people had not yet noticed the side affects of losing hours at a time, and the addicting qualities had not yet taken hold.  So when my friends who were planning their own weddings invited me to join this new platform of endless enticing pictures, I was thrilled.

Little did I know what this would mean for my future and so many other women.

Some may say that it is just another social media platform that we need to limit our access to, and while they are right, there’s a much deeper concern.  An already self-centered and judgmental society was now launching a platform in which we would subconsciously measure our worth and abilities to the filtered and Photoshopped images of the interwebs.

How would we ever measure up to the rainbow birthday cakes with matching decor or the homes filled with shabby chic furniture made out of palettes?

And I think Jen Hatmaker has a very valid point in For the Love,

Between bento boxes with sandwiches cut into the shape of dolphins leaping into a sea of kale, and spraying our kids’ feet with lemon essential oils to soothe their troubles, I just can’t even. {For the Love}

Even if you don’t have children, you know the destruction that has taken place on the hearts and minds of women of the twenty-first century.  We now feel as though we must live up to the standard, and subsequently our offspring, to the Pinterest perfect picture.

And as a result what have we done to the relationships we hold with future generations?  We have placed them in all their littleness up on a pedestal, to worship them as though they are tiny little gods.

You must not have any other god but me.  You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea.  You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. – Exodus 20:3-5

I know, it sounds pretty harsh.  But isn’t an idol something that we raise to the level of and effectively takes our focus off of God?  I’m all for loving those chubby little cheeks, please don’t get me wrong!  But sometimes we just need to check ourselves.

“It might be helpful to unpack the root motivations behind our hovering tendencies.  I suspect fear is the culprit.” {For the Love}

What is your motivation to provide that precious one with all of the things that their little heart desires?  What is your motivation for tending to their every need?

“Let’s not engineer our entire lives around their entertainment and manufactured success.  If our kids only expect blessings and exemptions, they will be terrible grown-ups.  These are not the adults we want to launch, nor are they the Snowflakes we want our kids to marry.” {For the Love}

I don’t know about you, but I want my children (one’s not yet conceived) to marry someone who is worthy of their love.  I want a child-in-law that I trust and ultimately like.  But without knowing who they will be, how can I possibly have any impact on how their lives are shaped?

I can let the women around me off the hook.  I can support them in raising their children to the best of their imperfect abilities.  I can love on them and encourage them during the questioning of the intricacies of the human experience.  And I can help them to tear down the pedestals that were craftily erected with the standard of Pinterest, to allow them to raise their children on a level that is pleasing and honoring to God.

“We are not just raising boys and girls; we are shaping future mamas and daddies and professionals and disciples.  It is noble, important work with mega-outcomes.” {For the Love}

I will still continue to pin away on Pinterest, but I will do it with the knowledge that life doesn’t have to, and really is not, as it looks in pictures.  It’s messy and imperfect, but beautiful and rewarding!

What fears are manipulating your thoughts and actions when it comes to guiding and directing the lives of future generations?

[divider] [row-start] [three-fourths]Bree Blum is a just your average single thirty-something book loving, oil using, cardigan wearing blogger who loves Jesus.

You can connect with her on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.[/three-fourths] [one-fourth][/one-fourth] [row-end]