I live with my ideals plastered in the back of my mind for quick reference all the time. When I need to buy a new pair of shoes I think of all of my ideals: inexpensive, comfortable, stylish but not trendy, well made, etc. And then I do my best to find the pair of shoes that best represents the conglomeration of my ideals. Sometimes I can get all the ideals wrapped up into one. Sometimes I have to choose between affordability and well made, but in the end I feel like I can be proud of a shoe purchase, otherwise I wait until I can find the choice that better fits my needs.
I’m even worse with food. I have a LOT of ideals for my food purchases. I only feel good about eating at Chipotle and Aladdin’s because they have the healthiest options for the price. When I buy groceries I shop at the grocer that has done the most locally to build our community in terms of creating jobs and developing land responsibly. The food I buy is measured by the ideals of affordability, healthfulness, locally grown/processed, lack of non-food additives… OH, the list goes on and on.
I spend $4.35 for a half gallon of local non-homogenized whole-fat milk because I want the cows to be happy and it comes in rented and reused glass bottles instead of cartons. I skim the cream off the top to make butter.
Anyway, the point of this post is not to brag about how I live at a very high standard, or something. This post is because I have totally fallen flat on my face in regard to living up to my ideals for the past two weeks. Rob had been in Egypt on business since 2 Saturdays ago. We are running on auto-pilot. I have gotten my girls fast food 5 times in these two weeks. That’s more often that I have the whole year up to this point.
I am looking forward to Rob coming home, and I’m trying not to feel guilty that I am a failure at keeping up with me.
I need to get used to this. My standards are high, but God’s are higher. And if I can’t keep up with my own requirements, then what does that tell you about how I stand with God? Praise be to God that Jesus has worked all of this out for me. It frees me up to focus on loving my family, my neighbor, and the cows in Wooster that give our family its milk.
*huuug*
You know, it’s having my ideals slammed by reality that has helped me understand, anew, God’s grace. . . So. . . It’s not such a bad thing to have weeks like this. *huuug*
It wouldn’t be manly to join in the hugging. But I will say that I’ve been feeling similarly, if I read you right, in the last few weeks. I’ve got lots of great ideas and ideals for what would make us the super-Jesus-family and me the super-Jesus-freak. And other things. Like not biting my nails. But my money isn’t where my mouth is, mostly because my fingernails are where my mouth is.
If you held your money in your fists while you bit your nails, then your money would be a lot closer to where your mouth is.
Nice.
I read this last week and wanted to come back to tell you how encouraging this was for me. Thanks!
You’re Welcome!