..On Failing.

I think it's pretty clear from my posts that I do NOT have it all together.  My house does not look like it belongs in a magazine, my kids are not perfect (or even really all that clean), I have issues folding socks and would really rather use paper plates all the time if I could.  I am a Pinterest failure.

Often as mommies I think we inadvertently (or sometimes ...advertently... ? on purpose, I mean) engage in the competition/comparison battle.  We women (generalization alert) spend way too much time comparing ourselves to each other, and then judging one another--- along with ourselves-- based on what we *think* we see.

In my own small way, I am going to combat this by sharing with you a list of things that I am absolutely terrible at.  Next week I may share a list of things I'm good at, but who are we kidding, I suck at blogging on schedule so let's plan for October. (<--One more thing on the list...)

1. Cleaning high spaces.

THIS is a picture of a cobweb in a window in my dining room.  I do not look at these window corners.  I do not, obviously, clean these windows.  My fans also haven't been dusted in maybe a year.  You can usually find a long dusty cobweb strand or two hanging down from the ceiling in  room corner.  I really don't care.
Maybe I should...

2. Weeding my garden.
I love our garden.  We grow lots of yummy things-- sweet corn, all sorts of peppers and tomatoes, herbs, cucumbers, beans, broccoli and cauliflower, etc.  We also grow some not-so-yummy things (KOHLRABI).  Mostly, we grow weeds.  When I quit my job to be a SAHM I had visions of myself spending time on my knees in the garden, my hair pulled back in a kerchief (right? is that what it's called?) pulling weeds while imparting Biblical wisdom to my children, who were playing sweetly nearby.  This has NEVER happened in my almost 4 years of staying at home.  Not one bit of it.  I think I've been in there to weed twice.  And nobody was being very sweet while I was in there, myself included.

3. Saving money/electricity.
I love air conditioning.  As much as I wax poetic about living off the grid, when the rubber hits the road I will almost certainly spend the vast majority of July and August in the basement.  Today in eastern Iowa it's about 92 degrees with 90% humidity.  I spent most of the day outside and really felt like I was melting.  My amazing, hard-working husband works outside, an average of 72-80 hours a week, in this (and worse) heat.  I am conceding my homesteading hat to him.  I am a huge wimp, and am planning on researching solar-powered AC.  Or inventing it.

4. Keeping my mouth shut.
If you read this post, you'll know that I blamed this on my pregnancy hormones.  Most of the time I'm not so rude.  However.  The truth is, if I REALLY and TRULY think I know something to be true, and I REALLY and TRULY believe that you are wrong, there is no stopping me from letting you know.  THIS is something I have to work on.  I am wrong a lot, and it's humbling to admit that-- especially to others.  This is a spiritual battle for me.  I am a know-it-all and I like to, ahem, share my wisdom with others.  If took me a very long time to admit my desperate need for a Savior, despite me *knowing,* intellectually, that I was a sinner.  Realizing that my own justification and reason were NOT enough to save me from the holy wrath of God took several months and years of painful sanctification-- and really still is an ongoing process.

5. Not comparing myself to other women/mothers.
Last year at MOPS I heard something that was a revelation to me.  When we think about our children, and how special and beautiful they are, each in their own way, it would be devastating as a parent to have a child constantly wishing that he or she were a completely different person-- ignoring the strengths and skills and characteristics they were given and spending all their time wishing they had someone else's.  Why, then, as women/mothers/daughters of Jesus do we do this? Instead of being thankful, humbled, and blessed by the gifts God has given me, do I constantly look at other women and envy/covet who they are and what they have? God has created me to bring glory to Him in my current situation-- and I. Am. Blessed.  I need to praise Him and thank Him where I am at, with everything He's given me {and He's given me everything}.

There's a lot of other stuff I'm bad at, but I'm tired.

Is there anything you're terrible at? What has it taught you about yourself, and your relationship with Jesus?