I was shopping at Wild Oats the other day when I overheard a conversation between two female friends about a third friend of theirs who recently had a baby... The first woman was telling the second about how their friend was having serious problems with nursing the newborn, and the second woman replied, "Well, that's what she gets for trying to introduce the bottle so soon." The first woman agreed that their friend was obviously being selfish in her desire to sleep, and now she had ruined any chance at breastfeeding. I wanted to turn around and yell at them to give the poor woman a break!
It seems to me that as women we spend so much of our time and energy finding fault with one another. We moan about the "superwoman" ideal and the pressure of trying to be all things to all people, and yet we inflict unrealistic expectations on ourselves and criticize our friends when they fail to meet the impossible standard of perfection. Working women feel judged by stay-at-home moms and stay-at-home moms feel judged by working women, blah, blah, blah, and really we're all just trying to do the best we can with what we have.
I know I fall into the same trap, constantly comparing myself to other wives I know and keeping a mental list of all the ways I'm superior and all the ways I'm not measuring up (I don't grow my own vegetables, but at least I do my husband's laundry). I can't imagine how the competition intensifies once you insert babies into the picture!
Praise God for his mercy that covers all our sins. Not the "sins" of buying veggies at Wal-mart or introducing the bottle too soon, but the true sin of a judgemental, prideful, anxious, discontented heart.
Now, if only we could remember to extend a tiny portion of this grace to one another.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment