A friend recently commented to me that she didn't "feel" balanced with two kids and didn't understand how I did it with four.  It's all relative really.  No matter how many kids you've got, there's always something to be done.  I guess once you have four kids running around you are just resolved to the fact that things won't go perfectly all the time.  Take for instance yesterday's efforts to make a dent in our room switch project.  I took all of the girls' things into the living room and began to sort them into piles.  Our piles looked something like this...trash, donate, clothes, books, dress-up, plastic food, doll clothes, art & misc toys.  I was on a roll.  The kids wanted to watch the new Lazytown movie and the baby was napping.  Just before I finished, I realized it was lunch time so we got the baby up and had lunch.  Now I have a 17 month old loose.  My nice piles quickly became more like slush piles.  I managed to get about half of it put away but the other half became three new boxes of stuff to re-sort.  Frustrating?  Sure!

Now one day my friend will likely come over to see the finished rooms.  They'll be nicely put together and clean.  She'll probably ooh and aah over it and say, "I don't know how you get it all done."  What she hasn't seen is all the laundry currently piled, waiting to be folding, the dishes in the sink since yesterday and the stacks of bed frames, bedding and toys in our school room.  She won't get the benefit of seeing the chaos that led up to the project's completion.

So often I compare myself to others thinking, "wow, she's so patient" or "man, I wish I was that thoughtful."  I've tried to stop doing that though because the Lord is teaching me to be thankful for who I am.  I do need to be striving to improve but I also need to appreciate who God made me.  We've all compared ourselves to other moms who seem to "have it all together".  I read something recently that really helped me alter my view on this.  "Don't compare my outsides to your insides."  Wow!  It's so true.  We know what goes on behind the scenes but that isn't usually what others get to see.  They see the "finished product".

What we often do is compare who we know we are with what others allow us to see of who they are.  You can't do this and stay sane.  "Keeping up with the Jones" just isn't going to happen.  The Jones Family will always seem to be more "together" because "the grass is always greener on the other side".  If you lived with the them you'd see that they have days where they just want to scream too, their kids make messes just like yours and sometimes (gasp) they don't "feel" like dealing with housework.

So the next time you're comparing yourself to someone else, just remember, you've got great qualities too.  Let their accomplishments inspire you instead of making you discontent.  And, always, always, always strive for excellence, not perfection :o)