No one can do it all!!

I have mentioned in previous posts that I believe we women have ramped things up for ourselves so much so that we just can't do it all. Instead of backyard birthday parties with homemade cake and no party favors, we have elaborate affairs with party planners, tent rentals, catered food, and expensive favors for a one year old who will never remember it! (though the pictures will be fabulous, I agree). My point is that our generation is trying to be Superwoman. But NO ONE can do it all. You simply cannot do it and you will literally die trying.

I was talking about this with a friend recently, and she made an excellent point. There are some women who have a lot of help in their home with housekeepers, someone who irons, landscaping services, babysitters, nannies, et cetera. Due to their help, these women are able to volunteer more hours at the school, look fantastic wherever they go, volunteer for charities, and spend hours at the gym. Others have all of their children in school and have 7-8 hours a day to themselves because they are not working. And I applaud you if you are one of these ladies. We need you to be the one who takes over the big event for local charities, who starts the Reading Rally at our schools, and who tutors the children who are behind in our public schools. We need you!! And one day, Lord willing, most of us will be more like you as our children grow up and leave the home.

But, if you have young children at home who are not in school, and you can't volunteer as much as you'd like to, you may feel like a failure. I know because I am there with you. You look around, and your house is never clean enough, and you wanted to make a casserole for a friend with a new baby, but it just didn't happen. You look at your clothes and you're in the same shirt you wore yesterday and it needs to be changed but you don't have time because you need to grab the baby and rush out the door to pick up your preschooler and to deliver your Teacher Appreciation gifts. You wanted to make something cute with fun gift wrap, but it didn't happen, and you beat yourself up the whole way out the door. You want to be Superwoman and do it all, but you can't. You look at the woman from above and feel like she can do it all and you can't. She CAN do a lot, but it's because she has help in some areas. And you with young children CAN do a lot because you do a lot every day. You wash clothes, and change sheets, and wipe noses, and make appointments, and cook meals, and put away clothes and take care of your babies. All of this is to say, that not one of us is Superwoman!! We are all human, and we all fall short. However, we are made in God's image, and we are to take great delight and joy in the season He has US in right now (not the season we wish we were in). Stop trying to be Superwoman, and just be Super YOU. Enjoy the phase you are in right now, because with all things, you will one day mourn its passing!