Everyday life doesn’t look like someone’s Instagram news feed. It looks like a whole lot of laundry, dirty dishes, and meals to make. We only put our highlights on Instagram for the most part, and spare everyone of the negativity. In reality we all have daily tasks and chores to be done, between the kids fighting to eat their breakfast, spouses leaving their messes around the house, and me forgetting to put away leftovers, so now I must toss my hard work of cooking. We all have to deal with some kind of chaos at some point in our lives. Every day is not going to be spring break at the beach as it once was in highschool. The good news is that you are not alone. Everybody in adulthood has to work, whether its in the home, at home, or at a location. We all have responsibilities. We need to make sure that we are not comparing our lives, relationships, marriages, parenting styles, and friendships to others.
No good can come from comparing. I find if I compare I feel one of two ways, jealous or superior. Both which are sinful and distasteful. We all have a journey to take and not one single person’s will look the same as mine. So please stop comparing your routine daily life to someone’s highlight reel of their one vacaction to France, the Bahamas, or New York. They may have worked hard and pinched pennies for that trip, or they may have gone into debt over it, or it may have been paid for by someone else, or better yet, it may be none of your buisness how or why they went. When we stop wishing and wanting what others have, we then can start dreaming and planning toward what we want and already have. So find ONE thing that brings you joy in this day, and focus on that. Although vacations look like they bring us joy, its truly just temporary happiness. It is not lasting joy. Joy comes from the Lord. You don’t have to be rich and be able to buy whatever you want to be happy. Find joy in the simple things in life. Find a good book and enjoy reading it. Make a cup of coffee and turn on some music and enjoy it. Sit outside and listen to the birds chirping and enjoy it. Play with your kids and make them giggle, that brings me so much joy. Most of all, find Joy in Jesus. When I start getting housebound stir crazy with the kids I take them for a drive, most days I do not have a destination. So I say all this to simply remind myself and others that life isn’t suppose to always be easy and fun, its natural to get tired, bored, and feel ordinary. Its normal. When you start feeling these things do something that will pick your mood up, it doesn’t need to cost a lot of money. The truth of the matter is we need to learn to enjoy the very things we must do daily. I will turn on music, a preaching, or a positive speaker to listen to while I do dishes and pick up toys. I HATED cooking, but I have to do it so I started watching the cooking channel, and tried new recipes. I now have a few staple recipes I use weekly that I enjoy cooking because I like the taste of my cooking. It is really all about finding the good in the chore. Finding the joy in simplicity. Approaching each new day with a thankful heart. 
I say all this to encourage myself in all honesty. I STRUGGLE with being content and finding joy in the mess of motherhood. However, when I do, I can go on again for a long time before hitting my low point and needing to “find joy” again, so to speak. Remember that this is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.
Mary Smith Creative 