The internet can be a dangerous place for someone like me. Everywhere I see pictures and descriptions of life that seems so peaceful and simple. I find myself yearning for my life to feel the way those photos look. I feel like I want to look at my life and constantly see a soft-lighted, evening portrait of simple activities that bring satisfaction.
Life isn’t like that, is it? Moments like that come occasionally. Moments of unglamorous work also come more frequently…of standing in a hot kitchen scrubbing dishes with raw meat juices. Let’s see that picture on your Pinterest board. We cannot expect life to constantly look like the photos on Pinterest or blogs. Those are snapshots of a lovely moment or ideal, but if we constantly wait for our lives to become an uninterrupted sequence of blog-worthy moments, we will grow increasingly discontent and unsatisfied. Life is hard work, and hard work doesn’t always come wrapped in the sunset glow of a summer’s evening. Life is bad lighting and bad hair. Life is pit stains and pimples.
This is real life:
Everyday I clean up messes like this. I clean when I’m tired. I pick up when I’d rather sit on my fanny and relax. (I also sit on my fanny when I should be cleaning). But life’s a balance. Work hard, give thanks, love where you’re at, and forget about the lighting. Because life isn’t always photogenic.
