If you walk through my house, you will see walls packed with perfect pictures full of my children’s angelic faces.  Every picture is placed just so and I have painstakingly chosen the “best” ones to honor in my home.  There happen to be no dirty mouths, no stained clothes, and the smiles on their faces are so large you can almost hear the laughter from the frame.  If you were looking from the outside, you may think that we have it all together…after all, I worked quite hard to make it look that way!  My guess is that your house holds a similar perspective of your family on your walls.

I often smile at those perfect pictures, not because of the image staring back at me, but because I remember the agony behind the picture.  I remember REALITY and it is just downright hilarious now.  At the time, I wanted to string my kids up and leave them out to dry.  They were crying, pulling hair, being beligerent, and refusing to project the perfection I was longing for.  In fact, there are several years with Christmas pictures that do not contain Kennedy because she just simply would not allow the picture to capture anything short of a fit.

When we compare our lives with others, often we are taking one still image out of reality and thinking that we could somehow attain that moment on a wholistic level.  What we need to remember is that every family, every relationship, and every situation is full of humanity, and with that comes tension, issues, disagreements, and strife.  You simply can’t find any situation that is truly perfection and therefore worth comparing yourself to.  We are all human and we are all on the same journey.  We all have good days, bad days, and days that we would NEVER frame on our walls.

We will be much more productive in attaining our “perfect” image if we focus on what we have and how to make the most out of what we have been given.  The opposite of comparison is gratitude!

In honor of the Not-So-Perfect Family, here’s some reality shots that were taken just moments before the beauties that adorn my house!  Be blessed and love the mess!