Keeping up with the ______ .

Fill in the blank.  You know you can.  We all have that person (or probably more true: that family) that we try to "compete" with... even if we don't mean to or realize it.  In my own opinion, I feel that social media (Facebook, Instagram, whatever) has magnified this epidemic of trying to be *that* family.

This soap box is brought to you by a recent article I read by Steve Wiens HERE.

The picture perfect family with perfectly dressed, well-behaved, nutritionally optimized, sugar free genius kids that don't ever watch TV or demand to watch YouTube on the iPad for hours (ahem) is something I am sure you have never tried to create.  Ha.  Right?!  Unless you don't go on the Internet (hence this is your first time, EVER - welcome!) or have an incredibly amazing ability to be holy, then you, like I, have battled with this mind-set. 

Maybe it's not the kid(s).  Maybe it's that you want to have *that* body, or *that* house, or be able to run for 13.1 miles and can only run 3... minutes.  Or maybe it's that you envy those that go out every weekend and seem to have the "perfect" life set to pictures on Facebook of pretty people, tons of friends with everyone laughing and smiling, little martinis in hand, and always seem to be on a vacation (you know this because they are posting pics of their feet in the sand with a caption of "toes in the water... toes in the sand...").  Or maybe it's that they seem to have the perfect job.  Or they seem to have all the time in the world.  Sound familiar yet??

And Facebook is making it worse.

I have seriously debated on taking more of a real break from social media recently because I have felt God tugging on my heart in this regard.  I want to be thin, be able to run a marathon, have a gorgeous tan, have no muffin top in a bathing suit, go to the beach, have a boat, live in a gorgeous home, drive that car you just posted a pic of, lose weight as fast as that person did, be creative (how does she make all those wreaths??), work in that department, be able to cut out all sugar & TV & chicken nuggets in my kid's diet, and have a kid that knows how to spell supracalifragilisticexpealidocious.  Don't spell check that.

I want all that.  Why can't I have all that?  And then that becomes a struggle within us and before you know it, we are miserable and never happy despite how much we have or how hard we work.  Teddy Roosevelt said, "Comparison is the thief of joy."  And God said, "If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, for each one should carry their own load." Galatians 6:3-5 (NIV).

So what then?  How do we get out of the rat race or the hampster wheel and experience the life God intended for US and not someone else?  I will get back to you on that... haha.  I don't claim to have all the answers, but through my quiet times and bible study, I am working on a post to answer that question.  In the meantime, begin to pay attention to your attitude as you peruse Facebook today.  Where is your heart?  I know where mine wants to go... and I am claiming, "He's still working on me... to make me what I ought to be..."

Here's what I do know.  Most people put their "best" on their social media pages - their once-a-year vacation to the beach is what you see when you are logging on during your 10-minute lunch break at work.  ENVY.  Their 25 pics of their friends at the bar last night (everyone is happy, happy, happy) doesn't show their puking later on that night, their insecurities, their innate sadness and emptiness, their utter loneliness despite the number of "friends" around them.  But you don't see that.  You have multiple little dictators hanging on your legs as you try to go to the bathroom, and you see smiles and drinks and friends.  ENVY.

Stay tuned for the second part of this "soapbox"... :) 

*My pics were taken off of my Pinterest account HERE.