green-eyed
Confession: Sometimes I envy the life of a Hollywood mom.
They seem to have everything and everything all put together; the houses, the clothes, the hair and makeup at their every beck and call. They can afford to hire people to help manage the craziness of their lives. There are personal trainers to help them get back in shape; personal chefs to cook healthy and delicious meals around the clock; nannies who have basically gone to school to be a mom; maids to take care of all the nasty household chores nobody likes to do; and personal assistants to get paychecks to all the previously mentioned helpers (and other duties as assigned).
I too could be enviously beautiful and talented and influential with all that extra money and time. So could you.
I know it’s silly thinking. They have their lives. I have mine . . . and I truly do love my life. There are just days that I get a teensy bit jealous . . . usually when I’m scrubbing the toilet (gag), or cleaning the floors, or folding laundry in my (very limited) spare time, instead of waxing my eyebrows or say sleeping for more than four hours at a time . . . and I have to really guard myself. I know in those moments it’s time to stop reading People.com and regain a firm grasp on reality.
All of my issues stem from the reality of my own contentment – an issue that God has been dealing with me on lately. I keep coming back to the same passage of Scripture:
Ecclesiastes 5:18-20 (The Message)
Make the Most of What God Gives
After looking at the way things are on this earth, here’s what I’ve decided is the best way to live: Take care of yourself, have a good time, and make the most of whatever job you have for as long as God gives you life. And that’s about it. That’s the human lot. Yes, we should make the most of what God gives, both the bounty and the capacity to enjoy it, accepting what’s given and delighting in the work. It’s God’s gift! God deals out joy in the present, the now. It’s useless to brood over how long we might live.
Brooding over the lives of the rich and famous is certainly not going to get me anywhere – and it most likely won’t get dinner made or the dishes in the dishwasher. Here is what I’ve garnered from this passage to help me when I’m feeling a little envious:
1. I have a “job” to do.
Right now that “job” consists of being a wife to Mike, a mom to Elijah and Noah, managing our home, and working my part-time job to the best of my ability. This is my work for this season of life. When I am sensitive enough to consider this, my job is enviable. I have friends who desperately want to be married, or have children, or work from home. It is all a matter of perspective.
2. God gave me this job and I am responsible for how I perform.
It’s really none of my business how anybody in Hollywood or anywhere else for that matter does their “job.” I’m only going to be evaluated on my work based on how I perform. I don’t get a free pass to be grumpy or lazy because I was assigned the job of cleaning the toilet at this address and someone else was given the job of . . . oh I don’t know . . . designing perfume fragrances or showing up at parties for a living. I am the only wife and the only mom in this family. When I don’t show up to work (or show up with a crappy attitude) there is a gaping hole and a huge disservice paid to the people I work with.
3. Regardless of the job I have for today, I can choose to find the joy in it.
There are moments of inexplicable delight in my day if I choose to see them. My kids are hilarious and beautiful and wonderful to be around. I mean that. When I don’t mean that – it’s usually my problem, not theirs. I believe that God actually puts joyful things right next to other less exciting things to express the true beauty of that joy. God has created me and given me meaningful work to do that is designed with joy in mind. I just have to find it and enjoy it.