Stop the glare!

Sleep is a precious commodity around here. I'm usually still up at least once a night for an hour with our youngest (and sometimes the others).  The rare nights where we sleep all the way through are miraculous and remind me that the seasons pass quickly.  I try praying and I've thought about reading, but to be honest...I usually just doze in the chair while I'm waiting for her to go back to sleep. But if you get a message from me at 3:30 in the morning, it's because my brain suddenly remembered everything I've forgotten to do over the last 24 hours. 

The other night I was checking something on my phone while waiting for the baby, and I heard something strange from the other side of the room. But since the room was so dark and my screen so bright in comparison, I literally had to put my hand over the screen to stop the glare so I could see the other side of the room.  I had to stop the glare to see what was really there.  (Good news: it was just my cat.)

It hit me in that moment (because all the deep thoughts always come in the middle of the night) that too often I let the "glare" blind me from what is really there. I often think I have to achieve some standard of ...well ....everything.  But why? Because I see someone else posted on Facebook? Because the experts say I should? Because society will judge me? Because I fear what people will say? Too often the glare of social media, online influences, society, and peer pressure.....and yes, our own personal "trying to be someone" blind us from what is reality.  We see the shining lights of other people's supposed successes, and think we need to achieve that.

God's 'reality' is actually pretty simple. "Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'...And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" Matthew 22:37, 39  Our two standards are to love God and love others. James says it like this: "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."  So if we love Jesus and love others well, we are reaching the standard.

When I stand before Him, He's not going to ask how many books I read, what I can cook from scratch, how many board games we own, or how big our house is. He simply wants to know if I love His Son, and if I loved other people well.  He doesn't care about the land we own, our bank account, the inheritance we leave our kids, or anything we 'accomplish' in life that we feel somehow matters.  Instead He asks: 'Do you love me? Do you love others as you love yourself?'

The things we do are not the standard.  What we do merely reflects our love for God and others. I cook from scratch to love my family, and my husband collects board games with the dream of playing them with our kids.

Too often I let the glare blind me. My husband often calls me from the kitchen after I finish my nightly chores, because I got stuck scrolling social media thinking of the "What if?'s, What could be's?, and 'Maybe I should do____ like that person did.'

Meanwhile, reality is waiting for me in the living room. It often comes in the form of a question as I greet my husband when he comes home from work. When I apologize for everything I didn't get done that day, he simply responds with "Did you take care of the kids?" Loving God and loving other are really the only two standards to live up to.

Let's stop the glare and the voices calling our name, and instead listen to the only voice that matters. He says: 'Love me and love those around you.'.   That's all that matters.

Sojourning with you,
Felicia