When my daughter Grace was in kindergarten, I picked her up from school one afternoon and asked how her day had been. It was picture day, so I asked if lots of girls wore pretty dresses.
Grace took a deep breath and said, “Well, some of them did. Adrianna had a pretty dress with squares and lines, and she wore cowgirl boots. And her hair went like this way and this way (she gestured to her head) and it was brushed so smooth you wouldn’t believe it.”
I gave the appropriate oohs and ahhs, when Grace said, “Mama, on Sunday at church they talked about Moses and God and how God wrote rules on rocks. And one of those rules was not to be thinking about what somebody else has and be wanting it. But, Mama!! That is sooooooo hard! I just can’t stop. I’m trying and trying, but it’s hard.”
I agreed with Grace that sometimes it was hard not to want what someone else has and asked her what it was she was wanted so much.
Grace said, “Adrianna’s clothes and her smooth hair and her cowgirl boots! Mama, she looked so pretty, and she is going to be in the yearbook for her picture looking like that.”
I told Grace, “She sure will, but Grace, you will be in the yearbook looking beautiful, too. You will have on a beautiful dress and a pretty bow in your hair. And you have on cute boots, too.”
Grace replied, “Not as cute as Adrianna.”
Those rules on rocks are hard on all of us sometimes. It’s easy to compare ourselves to other mothers and fathers and feel we don’t measure up. We get a glimpse of someone else’s life and want it for our own. Remember this: God made each of us different. He made your Pinterest-loving mama friend to be herself, and He made you to be you.
And you are beautiful just the way you are—smooth hair and cowboy boots or not. {eoa}
Carol Hatcher is a former elementary teacher turned writer. This sassy Southern author and speaker lives with her husband and three children in Georgia. Come visit her at www.sheeptotheright.com.
This article originally appeared at just18summers.com.
