Mommy vs. Pinterest

I stayed up reading blogs last night. Way. Too. Late. I wanted to glean what I could from other bloggers that have popular blogs with lots of followers, to hopefully become one of those well-read writers someday. I observed a very prominent topic:

There are many moms who have found Pinterest to make them feel inadequate or underachieving. This was discussed in a MOPS e-mail to members last week, by bloggers like this one, and I'm sure it's discussed by moms everywhere.
Personally, I love Pinterest. It inspires me, it lets me keep all those great ideas where I can find them again, and I can share all of that with my friends! So, rather then letting all those "perfect" images bring you down, make you feel like you are somehow not as good a mother as the mom who has sewn her child's entire wardrobe, choose to be inspired!

As moms, we are called to do many things. Proverbs 31 details these things. Let's be realistic; no mom buys wool and flax to spin herself—she might buy a few yards at Joann's and hope that somewhere in her spare time {haha} she could put together an outfit. She might peruse Wal-Mart, Ross, Target or JC Penney aisles searching for those discounted kids cloths or maybe that perfectly fitting pair of jeans she could splurge on.
She still gets up before the sun is out to make breakfast for her family and always gets the grocery shopping done so that her family never wants for snacks and dinner. A modern mom might find time to plant a garden but if there's a weed or two and the tomatoes aren't perfect, the kids aren't going to notice when they're chopped up in a salad.
And everyone knows that moms work vigorously—every single day. How many loads of laundry has that mom done to make sure she and her husband lay their heads on fresh sheets every week? I bet her husband hasn't ever said, "Honey, that laundry room sure doesn't look like the one on Pinterest. Could you work on that?"
It doesn't say anywhere in Proverbs that a wife of noble character is to plan a Dora the Explorer birthday party using only homemade creations. If she is able to do that, kudos! But her worth is no less than the woman who goes to Party America to find supplies. That 3-year-old won't know the difference.
A wife of noble character is one who does what we moms do every day: She provides for her family, whether or not she's taken a shower that day. She loves them unconditionally, even as they track mud into her clean kitchen from a rainy backyard. And she works to be the wife and mother that God called to be, not the one that Pinterest is telling her to be.

This little project was inspired by an image I saw on Pinterest. It didn't take a lot of time and all it took was picking up the supplies during my normal shopping trip.

I had real tulips in it for Easter but as I am a plant killer, they didn't survive long enough for me to remember to snap a photo. But that's kind of my point, isn't it? I saw a cute idea, I made it work for me and my family loved it. So if you are on Pinterest, follow me! Get inspired! Let God's love be what fills you and let your family's love be what sustains you.

"Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: 'Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.'" Proverbs 31:28–29