Picture Perfect or Big Picture?

“May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.”  II Thessalonians 2:16-17

I love pictures! I love scrapbooks brimming with happy memories (my proof that I am a good mom). I love framed photos decorating walls, shelves and mantles. I love smiling children looking back at me. I love freezing a moment forever through the miracle of film. Maybe it is because my grandfather was a photographer and it is in my blood—but whatever the reason—I love taking and displaying pictures. The booming scrapbook and digital camera industry tells me I am not alone in this.

I remember having a conversation with a friend about her daughter’s upcoming portrait appointment. As we discussed what her daughter would wear, where the photo would be made, and what style background she would choose, I realized that my friend’s sole purpose in scheduling this portrait was to have a perfect photo to grace her desk at work. Though she may not have even realized it, she wanted all who encountered this photo to know that her daughter was beautiful, her life was good and she was in control. She wanted her life to be picture perfect. Don’t we all?

I think as moms it is so easy to become focused on the minute little details of day to day life. We scurry around trying to create a picture perfect life for our families. The right clothes from the right store. The matching hairbows. The holidays that rival a magazine spread. Birthday parties that top all our friends’ kids. A warm, inviting home. Meals and laundry and errands and activities. While none of these things are bad in and of themselves, we find that we are so wrapped up in the tyranny of the urgent, we forget about the big picture. How can we show our kids that there is more to this life than merely rushing through one thing to get to the next? To look past the here and now and fix our gaze on eternity?

There are several ways to do this even in the midst of a busy, full life:

• Pray throughout the day. Pray with your kids, pray in front of your kids. Pray for others you encounter. Pray when something happens. Pray over situations in your home. Pray for healing in relationships—especially between siblings.
• Play praise music or Christian radio in your home. Whether you like country or rock, hymns or contemporary, there is something out there to match your style. Let the kids choose cds to play in their rooms. Talk about what the songs mean, and what they mean to you on a personal level. Music is also a great way to memorize scripture!
• Read Bible stories directly from the Bible, and also from Christian books. Read about the lives of missionaries and evangelists. Our family is learning about the lives of famous missionaries this year, and it is quite inspiring.
• Do things for others. Reach out to others. Say you’re sorry for things you have done wrong. Offer your help to complete strangers. Let your kids see you live a life of faith in action.
• Talk, talk, talk. Share what God is teaching you, what passages you have read recently and how you have seen God at work in your life. By talking about Him often, children see Him as real and accessible. They may not understand everything you say, but they will with time and important foundations will be laid in the process.

Yes, I want to create a picture perfect life for my family. As women, it is how God wired us—with a desire to nurture and care for others. However, above all that, I need to make sure I create a life that is focused on the big picture— spending eternity with God. How can I point my children towards Him each day? How can I look past the busyness and clutter and strive towards our real home in Heaven? More than crossing off things on my to do list, I want to spend time each day talking about a very real God and how to invest in our relationship with Him.

My children need to see that there is a bigger picture than just our family and our home and themselves. I want them to be others focused and God centered. I want to model that for them in my own life. I want them to see me struggle and fail, then get up and try again. I don’t want to model perfection by not being real with them. I want to model perseverance. We fall down, we get up. That is what we do in our family. And in the process, we find God’s perfect grace, the only perfection we need.