All Wrapped Up

BY JESSICA LANDMON

I bought the present weeks ago. It was a nice present, and I put a lot of thought into purchasing it. However, the day of the party arrived quickly, and minutes before we had to leave, I remembered that it was yet to be wrapped. Life had been just a little bit crazy the last few weeks. Now that summer was over, the running around and juggling act soon became a reality again. Unfortunately, picking up some wrapping paper from the store was not top on my list.

In a panic, I decided to make do with what I had. I grabbed a recycled gift bag from the closet and placed the present inside. Although the gift was obviously too big for this bag, I had no other options and felt pretty confident that tissue paper could fix this. Then, I realized that I had none.

Remembering that an item I ordered recently online was wrapped in gold tissue paper, I quickly ran to the recycle bin and fished it out. A conveniently placed piece of ribbon that my daughter didn’t put away from the day before sat lying on the counter and finished the look. Voila! The gift was ready to go.

When I took a step back, I admired my ingenuity, but recognized that the gift looked pathetic. It was a wrinkled, mismatched mess. And the worst part was that there was no time to do anything about it! Off to the party we went.

Things were going well until present time arrived. Of course, my interior designer sister-in-law’s present was up first. As you would expect, her presents are always wrapped in Pinterest worthy fashion. So when my present came up, I began to squirm in my seat, completely ashamed of the presentation of my gift. However, what happened next made all the embarrassment quickly fade away.

My father-in-law looked at the gift, unaffected by the exterior, and pulled the present right out of the bag. The expression of gratitude on his face made the gift-wrapping disaster fall to the wayside. He was truly excited and touched by the gift we purchased.

As the saying goes, it’s what’s on the inside that counts. I know this, but I sometimes allow my perfectionism to get the best of me. And sometimes, this transfers to other areas of my life. Can anyone relate?

All too often, we, as women, focus on superficial nonsense. We worry about the way we dress, our weight, our hair and make-up, the car we drive, and other worldly measures that don’t mean a thing. We tend to equate our exterior presentation with our worth. That’s ridiculous!

God is not interested in how we present, but very much interested in the condition of our hearts. We spend too much time on shallow pursuits, and not enough time working on our interior.

Ladies, it’s time to stop getting all wrapped up on the exterior, and remember that it’s what’s on the inside that counts!

For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. – 1 Samuel 16:7, NKJV

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We hope that you will be able to join us for the “The Power Within” Conference on Saturday, October 29th, from 9:00 a.m. – 2:oo p.m. at the The Cornerstone Church in Cheshire, Connecticut. We are expecting a refreshing time with the Lord. Early bird pricing is available through 9/30/16.

For tickets, go to: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-power-within-womens-conference-tickets-25701743607

Supermom Syndrome

Although I was a little too young to watch this show in its first airing, I loved watching Wonder Woman in reruns. Diana Prince appeared to be just a normal woman, that is, until a situation that required her super powers arose. Then, with a delicate spin of her body and flip of her hair, she was instantly transformed into a full-fledged super hero. I loved pretending to be her when I was younger. What girl didn’t? Not only did she have special powers, but she also wore a tiara (that doubled as a boomerang). Need I say more?

I would spin aimlessly around in the yard switching back and forth from normal girl into Wonder Woman, taking trips on my invisible plane, and lassoing all the imaginary bad guys. I even confess that I had the Wonder Woman “Underoos.” I was a fan.

Well, I am all grown up, married, and have two children, so I don’t pretend that I am a Wonder Woman any longer. That would be ridiculous! But sometimes, I do think that I need to be Supermom.

The pressure we women put on ourselves is incredible and unnecessary. We sometimes feel that we need to be perfect. We feel the outcome of our children is entirely based on our efforts. If we fail at even the slightest thing, we think that our children will be impacted negatively. We need to remember, there is no such thing as a perfect mother, but there is a perfect God.

Now don’t misunderstand, God has called us to be great parents. We are to instruct our children in the ways of the Lord. We are to love them, nurture them, and train them up in the things of God. But, we are human, and we will make mistakes. In fact, if you are not a perfect mom, you are in good company. In Luke 2:41-46, we see an account of a not-so-perfect mother moment.

Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days, they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.

Many of you have read this scripture before, but did you realize that Jesus was missing for four days (one of which his mother didn’t even know he was gone). Mary, the example for all mothers, lost, or shall I say misplaced, her son, Jesus, for days. And despite the not-so-perfect mother moment, I think we can all agree that He turned out ok.

Ladies, we need to spend less time trying to get the “Parent of the Year” award and more time praying and trusting God for our children’s future. We need to lay aside our efforts to be Supermom, and focus on pointing our kids toward God, the only real super hero.

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.    Proverbs 22:6