Run Your Own Race

Several years ago, I was given a Joel Osteen book as a Christmas gift. I had never heard of Joel Osteen or his books, but as I began reading I found a multitude (Biblical term) of things he said that were directly applicable to my life. Now I love to listen to his weekly sermons while I'm dressing for church, and frankly sometimes I get more out of what he says than the live action version. No offense, Brother Sammy. On many, many occasions I have felt as though he were speaking directly to me. And no, not in a horror movie, psychic friends, freak show kind of way. He doesn't call me by name, and I'm pretty sure his head has never spun around.
It just seems like the topics he chooses often relate directly to what's going on in my life. It's almost like a sport now...I wait to see if he's going to guess correctly this week. And yes, I completely get that his messages are constructed in such a way that they appeal to the masses. That's why his church has a gazillion members, some of whom are willing to send him large sums of money, which I am not. I have to admit, any time I hear a televangelist ask for money, I immediately think of one of my all time favorite movies, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, and Randy Quaid saying, "If I just had back the money me and Catherine sent to that TV preacher that was screwing the hockey players." That always makes me giggle.
The sermon this past Sunday was about running your own race and being focused on the journey that is uniquely yours. It was absolutely jam packed with excellent advice on how to ignore the people in your life who are jealous of you, who are trying to bring you down. I have heard him say before that it doesn't matter what you do, some people will never be "for" you, even in your own family. People will pressure you to conform; they will try to mold and shape and pound you into their idea of what you are supposed to be. There are those people in your life who will be happy as long as you are content to remain in your current state of affairs, that will despise you when you begin to improve your station in life and come into God's favor. He went on to say that God has chosen the path that he has laid out before you, that he has put people and circumstances in your life that will help you along that path, and that when you will step out of God's favor is when you are doing things that are not in his plan for you.
Wow. That was a lot to take in. It also gave me a lot to think about. A few short years ago, we would have said goodbye to people we knew in high school and never heard from some of them again. And then there was Facebook! I look at it as a double-edged sword. I really enjoy keeping up with friends and family who live far away. I have seen pictures and read stories about their lives I would never have had access to. I have kept in touch with acquaintances from across the nation that I met before I was married.
More importantly for me, I have felt less isolated as a stay at home mom of small kids because I can "talk" to other people who have been where I am now. There's just something about saying, "I was cleaning up puke at 1:30 this morning" and someone responding, "Oh, I've done that lots of times. Were there chunks in it? I hate the chunks!" Just makes you feel better in some small way. Or, "My kid peed on the playground at McDonald's today" and hearing back "Oh really? My son pissed on the floor at the grocery store." Hooray! I'm not alone. Other people have gotten sucked into the whirling vortex of vomit, crap, and toys and clawed their way out on the other side. Some of them are even partially sane once again now that their kids are all grown up. There's hope for me!
One of the best things that has happened so far is that I have reconnected with people from my past that I never really took the time to get to know. I have figured out that I missed out on some really fantastic people who were in my life because I didn't give them a chance. I talk often with a few people I knew in high school who make me laugh until I cry. I had no idea they were such fabulous writers or that they were so freakin' funny! Maybe if I had started talking to them sooner I wouldn't have been in such a bad mood for so many years. WHERE WERE YOU PEOPLE? Why didn't you tell me that I needed to pull my head out of my a__ sooner? GAH! Oh, well, at least you're here now. Thanks for brightening my day, even if it's just by saying, "Look, I have it so much worse than you do it's not even funny!" Point taken.
The other edge of the Facebook sword is this: I can totally see how people look at the CAREFULLY SELECTED parts and pictures of other people's lives that they choose to share on Facebook and think that they are missing something in their own lives. That's the beauty of the Internet. You can make your life look however you want to online! Wake up, folks. People leave out the uncomfortable stuff! Divorces, financial problems, less than perfect spouses and rotten, rebellious kids...they're all still out there! You just don't hear about them because people choose not to share that. I actually find it quite funny to match up the things people post online with what I know to be true about their actual lives. I guarantee you the picture you have in your mind is a far cry from reality. As someone who has appeared (at least once, on some occasion) to have it all together, I am here to tell you that I don't. Every day is a balancing act, and more often than not I end up in the net. Or on the concrete. Depends on the day. A woman from our church told me once that my husband and I "seem so laid back and calm, like you never lose your cool." To which I say, "I would like to thank the Academy..." because my acting skills have obviously improved! Take home lesson for the day: Don't judge a Facebook by its cover.