Don't Get Blogged Down

**Re-posted from a MOPS newsletter**

"Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads."  Deuteronomy 11:18 (NIV)

Oh the mommy blogs!  I am as guilty as anyone of getting sucked into them.  I don't mean the perfect ones, like mine (hee hee), that include nothing but upbeat and intelligent posts and adorable pictures of cute children :)  I'm referring to the blogs written by the perfect mothers out there in cyber-world, who can write very well, and who use that talent to share their one-sided opinion about every. single. parenting. decision. that is to be made over the course of a child's life.  I enjoy reading helpful tips, inspirational stories, and even well-written criticisms of some less-than-stellar habits or attitudes I may have fallen into.  I also enjoy social media as a way to keep up with family and friends and to occasionally share my own opinion about a topic I feel passionate about.  In this day and age of an overabundance of information, however, I find myself often frustrated at the massive numbers of "helpful parenting articles" that constantly tell me I'm not doing something well enough.  Or that my kid's favorite snack is not only terrible for them, but laden with potentially cancer-causing chemicals.  Or that I shouldn't have taken that 10 minute break to mentally veg out on my iPhone, because I missed out on the only cart wheel my daughter would ever do at 4:15 on Tuesday, March 26, 2013.  I will never get that moment back!  My personal (not-so) favorite links are the recall/new safety concern notices that constantly inform me my favorite baby gear, car seats, cribs, eating utensils, strollers, and  fluffy stuffed animal lovies should all be trashed because of new safety concerns that could theoretically harm my precious offspring if a specific and narrow set of circumstances align together while I happen to be looking away for two minutes.... perhaps at my iPhone.  I find myself especially drawn to articles with titles I know I will disagree with.  But I read them anyway, mentally patting myself on the back for my "open-mindedness" and effort at "educating myself" from all viewpoints.  One such article claimed that the only 100% safe and nutritious food I could feed my family without any risk of cancer, obesity, exposure to toxic chemicals or other terrible ailments is kale.  This particular article concluded by stating that if you eat too much kale, you might suffer from kidney stones.

As a mom who is constantly analyzing and questioning my parenting decisions, rarely 100% confident that I am doing everything the exact, right way, I feel in my mommy-gut that this "valuable information" is probably doing more harm than good much of the time.  I was expressing these frustrations to my mother in law the other day, because I do, in fact, want to be a good, informed mother who makes reasonable safety and nutrition decisions for my family and who can speak intelligently to my friends about the latest ideas.  And my prideful self wants every other mother out there, even these super-informed bloggers who have all the answers and who, also, I will never ever meet personally, to agree with every miniscule decision I make.

With one quick sentence, my wise mother in law asked me a question that solidified what I already knew, shed new light on this issue this I've been struggling with off and on for some time, and convicted me of my true sin in all of this.  She said, "What if you and all of your mommy friends took all of that time and energy you spend reading about the best ways to do all of these things (or not do them) and you spent that time and effort praying for the salvation of your children and future generations of your family line?"  As soon as the words came out of her mouth, I knew that my own mommy blog post was born!  What good is preventing cancer or SIDS or giving my child peanut butter on the exact right day if one of my kids gets to the end of her life and doesn't understand the eternal saving grace of Jesus Christ??  What good is a lifetime of memories of finger painting, chasing butterflies, and hours of undivided attention devoted to the entertainment of the little people if they grow up and fall prey to many of Satan's lies and deceptions about the love and goodness of God?  What kind of peace and wisdom would flood my life if, instead of reading someone's opinion about a fairly insignificant topic, I infused my thoughts with the Word of God to guide my parenting decisions?  My kids (and all of us) have one, only one, thing to do in our lives that really makes the only difference that matters.  We have to admit that we are sinners and fall short of God's holy standard for us and know that God sent His Son to die on the cross for us in our place. (Romans 3:23, John 3:16, John 15:13) We then have to accept that grace and mercy, given out of a love 100 times more pure and perfect than anything I could ever feel (even for my kids who I adore to the moon and back), (Ephesians 3:14-21) and commit to doing our best to turn away from sin and towards the standard of Christ-likeness God sets for us - which can only be accomplished by asking and allowing Jesus to transform our naturally sinful heart into one that beats like His. (1 John 2:1-6)  It was no coincidence that we happened to have this conversation in the middle of Holy Week, as we prepared to celebrate Easter.

In our culture, praying and reading God's Word can often feel like something we do before we can start the "real work" of solving a mommy-issue or improving a situation.  Friends, that is one of Satan's lies that I have fallen prey to.  Praying to God IS the work of parenting or getting our family through tough circumstances.  God's Word should be our most helpful and consulted "mommy-manual," even if we do occasionally get a truly great idea from a book or internet article.

Speaking of great, supplemental books to the Bible, in the devotional, Night Light For Parents, the author shared this brief story.  "My great-grandfather, George McCluskey prayed every morning from eleven to noon for his children and for future generations of his family.  Toward the end of his life, he announced that God had made him a promise: Every member of four generations of his family would become Christians.  That promise has been working itself out in remarkable ways.  By the time I came along, every family member from my great-grandfather to me not only had accepted Christ, but also had been or were ministers.  I am the only one who did not feel specifically called to this service." 
 

By the way, the author (who was the only family member *not* called to the ministry) is Dr. James Dobson.