I kept my cool but could feel the tension building.
By the time #6 rolled around, I lost it, yelling at my gremlin of a child, feeling entitled to do so because I “deserved” to let loose. I mean, I had been beyond patient and loving and basically THE BEST MOM EVER up ’til that point! It was almost perfection…
And if I am perfect for outburst 1 through 5, I choose to be selfish for #6.
Where did we get this idea that we can choose selfishness and that it’s okay to do so?
How did the ME become bigger than the WE?
We have cleverly disguised the wolf of selfishness as “self-care” and placed it among the innocent sheep of self-care solutions:
A good night’s sleep. Relaxation. Eating healthy. Screaming at your kid. Exercise.
If only selfishness WAS self-care!
Our selfishness is affecting our husbands, our friends, and how we spend our time.
We feel entitled: “I work hard, therefore I indulge.”
Are you ignoring your kids because you are “over it” and deserve some time to yourself, or because they truly need some quiet playtime?
Are you blowing your budget because you work hard and deserve to spoil yourself?
Are you ignoring intimacy with your husband because you deserve to be in the perfect mood in order to have sex?
Maybe those questions sting a little. And maybe you have a right to feel the way you do. But as Christians, we are always called to put our needs and wants aside. We follow the example Jesus lived, selfless and giving, not selfish and taking. Where in the Bible does it tell us that our needs rise above the needs of others? What verse reads, “Doeth What Thou Wants, Super Mom..?”
Can we all agree to stop being selfish?
Galatians 5:16-18 tells us to:
“Live freely, animated and motivated by God’s Spirit. Then you won’t feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day.”
We are better than our feelings; better than emotions on any given day!
