No More Perfect Moms

A group at my church recently started an online book club for the book "No More Perfect Moms" by Jill Savage.  I didn't especially feel like reading it but everyone else was doing it so I thought I might as well.  Plus I found it for the kindle really cheap.  This book is worth the time and I would highly recommend it.  And don't just read it.  Get a friend to read it too so you can talk about it!    This is the book description:

If you've ever forgotten to pick your kid up from soccer practice or accidentally worn two different shoes to the grocery store, this book is for you. Being a mother is not for those who display symptoms of the "Perfection Infection." There is simply no such thing as a perfect mom. And there are no such things as perfect kids, perfect bodies, perfect marriages, or even perfect meals. With refreshing honesty, author Jill Savage exposes some of her own parental shortcomings with the goal of helping mothers everywhere shelve their desires for perfection along with their insecurities of not measuring up to other moms . Jill delivers some much-needed realism as she explains why we need to stop comparing our insides to other people's outsides.  She challenges every mom to exchange her vision of being a "perfect mother" for God's beautiful grace in order to learn to love her real, but imperfect, life.

I wasn't interested in this book at first because I didn't feel like I was striving for perfection -  just trying to survive this phase of life.   After reading a few chapters I realized that some of my expectations needed adjusting.  Surviving this phase of life depends on it!   I didn't think I was trying to have perfect days, perfect kids, or a perfect home but I was.  Once I remember posting pictures to facebook and leaving one out that showed how crooked my daughter's pigtail part was.  I'm terrible at parting hair and knew that if I posted that picture everyone else would see it and I'd get comments about it.  So I chose a different picture to post.  Only posting the perfect pictures gives a skewed view of things though.  My favorite thing about this book is that it's helping the moms around me to be honest.  Moms are opening up about struggles they're having and being honest about it.  I was so relieved to hear that these moms are having the same struggles as I am.  In my head I knew that everyone has bad days and deals with the same things, but actually hearing moms talk about it has been a relief.  Satan is the father of lies and if we are not honest we cannot live in peace.  

Psalm 34:14
Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.