Cellophane wrap
I saw an idealistic view of my family. Every person was dressed and pressed to perfection and had a beaming smile on their face. My heart filled with great warmth and joy as I beheld my children and husband.
Then a sheet of plastic wrap stretched out over my family and pressed them into perfect order, preserving them, exactly as they stood.
At first, I just looked at them contemplating what was happening.
Dread seeped in like a cold front, crystallizing first my limbs and then up to my heart.
“Why do I feel so horrible while they look so perfect?”
“Trying to plastic wrap your family and keep them in an ‘ideal’ state is not living in reality. And it will kill you all. You need to be free and breathe. I didn’t create you to stay in one position and hold on a fake smile.”
***
Plastic perfect. How many times do we desire to have our family, or a situation look plastic perfect? Frozen in time, with perfect smiles, sweet conversations, and respectful behavior. Reality is messy and sometimes even smelly. It’s hard to want to embrace this type of life.
But God created us to experience living, and sometimes that means making mistakes. Sometimes even multiple mistakes in the same difficult situation. Messy for sure.
But God isn’t looking for perfection, He’s looking for genuine living. He isn’t waiting for us to get it right to come to Him. He wants to be a part of even the smelliest and messiest situations.
Plastic perfect is not God’s design.
I find it hard to embrace the aggravating, frustrating portions of life when, as mothers, we work our tails off to find another mess right around the corner. Cleaning is endless, planning life events takes a degree in theoretical mathematics, and rarely is a thank you uttered.
God wants us to be still and see His blessings and goodness in all things. He desires us to stop our striving and work in order to look and see what He has provided.
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” (James 1:17, ESV)
Prayer for you and me: Lord, help us see ourselves and our families how You see them so that we might agree with Your design for their lives. Help us embrace joy amid chaos. Forgive our ungrateful hearts. Teach us about what You mean when You say to be thankful in all things. Thank You, Jesus. Amen.
Yes and amen! Letting go of our perfectly preserved plastic images is the only way to find true freedom for ourselves and our families. Thanks for this encouragement!