No, that’s not some new race distance. Although I have a 10K race coming up I need to begin training for!
5,100. That is the number of pins on my Pinterest board tonight. As I was clearing notifications and pinning outfits for my next Stitch Fix I noticed how many pins were on my profile, and it got me thinking about this whole Pinterest gig.
When Pinterest made it’s debut I was home on maternity leave with my second son and iPhones were still bulky and heavy. Pinterest allowed me to maintain consciousness while I spent nights nursing a hungry babe.
So I began to pin, pin, pin. Until I found myself 5,000+ pins later. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Pinterest. Everything from my Style Board (which helps me think I am going to nail the perfect outfit for date night) to my Food Board (which I pretend I will one day cook) to my decorating board (which my husband probably isn’t a fan of since I actually buy and complete those ideas) to the countless craft and DIY projects I think I can tackle only to fail miserably.
Pinterest is amazing.
What Pinterest isn’t great about showing though is the 1,000 failures it takes to get the “Pinterest Perfect Project.” Or how many hundreds of photos were taken of the children in their perfectly staged clothing to get the one that makes it onto the photographers board.
I have 5,100 pins on my boards, and hundreds of followers and hundreds more re-pins and likes, but at the end of the day, nailing a project to look “Pinterest Perfect” won’t satisfy my soul’s desire for perfection, completion, acceptance, or worthiness.
The problem with Pinterest is I look for perfection and worthiness on boards made of pictures, and not to the only person who can perfect me.
Many of my pins are good things: workouts, dinner meals, lessons for my kids, advice on marriage, etc. but if I’m not careful in guarding my heart and mind I can easily find myself spiraling down a trail that’s unhealthy.
Like seeing a pin about how a family sold everything and paid off their debt in 9 months. Yes, it’s great, and I find myself so happy for those who have gained financial freedom! But if I don’t guard my mind toward what I know God has called for our family, I can find myself frustrated we don’t have every dime of our mortgage paid off in the next 5 years. When in truth, God has called us to use our finances in a different manner than another family.
Or when I see a great pin on meal planning and eating all your meals at home as a family for $100 a week. I quickly click for advice and tips and shopping lists….only to find that family’s schedule, structure and eating habits vary differently from ours. And while I would love to possibly cook every night, when we spend 3 hours on soccer fields 2 days a week, sometimes take out is the best yes for us.
Or on the wrong night, when I’ve had an argument with my kids about homework, or dirty socks, or flushing the toilet, (take your pick on any crime boys could commit in the home, lol) and I see more parenting articles about “How to never yell at your kids again.” I can easily go into “worst mom ever” kind of thinking. When the truth is training boys to be men is HARD-WORK and some times there are just hard days, but there is always new mercy in the morning.
All these good ideas and articles can be my undoing if I don’t view them through the filter of Truth. So tonight as I pin away on my phone while winding down from a very long day (and the seven loads of laundry I tackled) I will keep this truth in mind…..
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
Philippians 1:6 ESV
