very inspiring blogger award.

Tags

Bower Power, decorating blogs, DIY blogs, faith blogs, inspiration, pinterest, Steven Furtick, Very Inspiring Blogger Award, Very Inspiring Bloggers, Young House Love

Apparently… I’m pretty inspiring… so much so that I was awarded with the Very Inspiring Blogger Award. To be honest, this came at a complete surprise. I started this blog last year as a simple way to grow in my faith. I figured the more I blogged, the more I would dive in to God’s word.. it was really all for me and then I found out that other people were actually reading it. And not just my mother (even though she’s my number one fan). As I began more and more accustomed to blogging, I decided to incorporate my photography business into this same blog. Some would criticize that you shouldn’t mix your faith with your business… but I say.. I have nothing to hide.. or to be ashamed of. My faith is a HUGE part of who I am and I’ve never really understood the purpose or benefit of separating my faith from the rest of my life. It is who I am. So, I have this blog… a little photography, a little faith, a little family, a little bit of my life. And apparently it seems to be inspiring to some of you and that makes my heart overflow.

struggling with insecurity.

Tags

comparison, contentment, envy, Facebook, faith, insecurity, jealousy, Steven Furtick

I saw this quote pinned on Pinterest the other day and it really resonated with me. (BTW, if you don’t know what Pinterest is- message me and I’ll send you an invite to join.. but beware – you’ll lose countless hours of your life- it’s so addicting.) Anyways, highlight reels. I feel like all I see is other people’s highlight reels.

Think of the last time you were on Facebook.. scrolling through your News Feed and all of a sudden out of nowhere, you started to feel inadequate. Your life just started to seem a little less glamorous. Status updates from friends who are spending the summer in Rome, pictures of families on the vacation of a lifetime, Foursquare check-ins from friends in Vegas for the tenth time or wall posts about how their life is just so amazing right now. You name it.. we’ve all seen on it Facebook. From the view of your News Feed, you’ve seen a world of perfection.. perfect couples with perfect lives with perfect children with the perfect clothes with the perfect house with the perfect… everything!

From your seat behind the computer, you’re realizing how much your getting cheated in life. Your not making enough money at your job.. so you don’t have the latest “whatever” .. your house is always messy and now that you think about it, it’s way too small. Your car not only isn’t the latest edition, but it takes ten minutes for the defroster to work. Your children never behave. Your family never gets along. You can’t even remember the last time you went out for a girl’s night. Maybe if you weren’t so poor, you could afford all those amazing things. Damn. Doesn’t your life just suck?

Wait.

Did I really just say all those bad things about my life? It’s remarkable how quickly our outlook on life can change when we concentrate so much on measuring up with other people. Suddenly, our life just doesn’t seem worthy. Our abundance just isn’t enough anymore. When we see our friends’ successes and how “amazing” their life is, we spiral down into discontentment and jealousy. We pick apart our lives so much so that we lose sight of its value.

And it’s hard not to be jealous.. because there is always an opportunity for us to see less of our own blessings and more of others.  We’re constantly followed by a little group of men three inches high always willing to help us throw a pity party. They whisper into our ears that we’re not good enough or that our lives are not adequate and we start to believe them.

But what we need to remember is that nothing is as it seems… no one’s life is perfect. I’ve heard it said before and I believe it rings unbelievably true.. ‘We often compare what we know about ourselves with what we don’t know about others and we find ourselves wanting.’ No one’s Facebook profile is filled with perfect vacations everyday or perfect pictures of them. We are only seeing their highlight reel. In our own lives, we see the mundane moments, the pain behind the smiles, the ache in our heart, the hecticness of each day.. but we need to remember that everyone has those kind of moments. Every family has tears and struggles… and moments they don’t want anyone to see… which is why they’re not in their highlight reel (or on their Facebook page).

Being jealous indicates that we are not satisfied with what God has given us. Instead of focusing on everyone else’s highlight reels, let us focus on all of the highlights in our own lives… all of the good things… all of the many blessings God has given us. The more we focus on that, the more content we become…

 

your best days are not behind you.

Tags

church, comparison, Craig Groeschel, faith, future, God, membership, new life, New Life United Methodist Church, plan, postaday2011, relationships, staff, Steven Furtick, success, uncertainty

The church I belong to is going through a difficult trying time. Thankfully, there are so many people devoted to the church that truly believe in what it stands for and believe God has a wonderful plan for its future.

Too often we judge ourselves based on other people’s success. We compare our businesses, our families, our everyday lives based on what others are doing. And the same is true with our churches. It’s so easy to look at other churches’ memberships and annual reports and become dissatisfied. We want what they have. Maybe we don’t want their pastor or their praise band. But we want their following.. their passion.. their drive.  But we need to remember. We’re all different. Each church has a different vision so it’s literally unfair for us to compare them. We, as the church, need to remember that we can only measure our success against our own goals and aspirations.

Pastor Craig Groeschel once said this.. “I want you to always choose kingdom influence over worldly success.” God doesn’t care so much as to whether you are reaching millions or only five. It’s about the relationships and the impact you are making on their lives.

Last night at our Staff Parrish Relations Committee meeting, we discussed whether our church was a church that aims to go wide or deep. (Cue in the popular kid-friendly song, “Deep and Wide”) Are we a church that aims to continually grow membership to serve more and more people? Or are we a church that focuses on the current members and strengthening their relationships with God? We couldn’t really come to a concrete conclusion. We wanted to be both. But in choosing to do both, are we choosing to be mediocre? Some say yes. Some say you need to have a clear vision on this aspect in order to grow. And to be honest, I just don’t know.