Trying To Keep Up, But…
It is incredibly easy to feel worn out, isn’t it?
Wear this…
Eat that…
Look like this…
Make that…
Parenting like this…
Go to that…
It’s endless! And it’s going to be endless until we realize in trying to keep up, we will never arrive. I have tried keeping up during various stages of my life, but I always found myself not “measuring up” to the world’s trends. And that was my problem exactly – I was trying to live up to the world’s standards and not to the life God was calling me to.
I’ve tried to eat as “organic” as I could, and though it was a good perspective change for me, especially with having to watch my salt and water intake now, but thanks to my health issues, it would not be healthy for me to do many of the diets out there because I’d be losing out on some of the essentials my heart needs. But that’s just it. I try to find excuses for myself as to why I “should” keep up, but can’t.
It’s a cycle that is unhealthy, daunting, and is a dead end every time. Because NO ONE HAS ARRIVED. Whose standard are we living up to? The messages we receive on the daily from our culture and world, well, it makes my head spin. If I bought everything that was thrown in my face, everything that I’m “told” I NEED to have, well we’d be broke. If I ate everything that I’m “told” I NEED to eat, I’d be obese. If I did everything that I’m “told” I NEED to do, I’d never sleep. Seriously though!
Just think about the messages that you are bombarded with in a day: radio ads, billboards, what your Facebook or Instagram friends are doing, the latest deals in the sale ads, emails, and sponsored social media posts, magazines, books, and even those who live around us. Do this. Do that. And THEN you will be living a good life.
But I give up. I give up on trying to keep up.
The older I get, the more I realize that ya know what? I am who I am and I’m starting to finally be okay with it! Some areas of my body are a little more flabby than they ever have been, but whatever! Some things that I eat probably would make a health nut cringe, but whatever! Some things that I wear probably make a fashionista blink twice, but whatever! When faced with different life circumstances, it helps keep things in perspective, doesn’t it?
Don’t chase what you will NEVER get. Don’t chase something that will never satisfy. Chase the one Truth that will – Jesus Christ. He will not disappoint. He will not expect more than what you can give, thanks to His grace. And that’s a “life” I want to keep up on…a life of grace.
