Stop Comparing: Finding Joy Beyond Airbrushed Lives

## Airbrushed Lives We started saying that comparison is the thief of joy long before Instagram. But Instagram proves it. A mother can go on Instagram and see all the airbrushed women looking fabulous. And that isn’t even the most insidious thing about the site. The worst things on Instagram are the airbrushed lives displayed there. In one post, you can read about how a mother does fifty specially themed crafts per day with her children while cooking every meal from scratch. In another, you can read about the amazing marriage a woman has with her husband while they participate in multiple church and community activities every week. Is that the true story? Girl, that first mother serves cereal for dinner while her children wear pajamas all day. And the second mother doesn’t have time to build a foundational relationship with her husband and children. In the Old Testament, Samson is an icon of strength and greatness. Yet underneath his strong exterior are weakness of character and complacency. Absalom, David’s son, is the most handsome man in the Old Testament, but he is never happy because he feels unloved by his father. Jezebel is great and proud, but she has a manipulative and emotionally abusive husband, and she struggles with envy and pettiness. In the New Testament, Jesus says that the Pharisees are like whitewashed sepulchers. They look great from the outside, but inside they contain the rotting flesh of pride and wrath. Let me propose an alternative. Instead of comparing yourself to others, focus on what you’re thankful for in your own life. Be compassionate with yourself, and set fun goals that challenge you each week. Most importantly, enjoy your spouse and your children. When you look around your dining-room table and see a smiling spouse and happy children, those are the views that matter. It’s time to choose quality over quantity. When we find a better place with our family, we begin a journey that ends in eternity together in heaven. That’s where everything is perfected—without airbrushing. Because you lift me up, I can always know that you alone are the answer to the sin of my disease. You alone are the answer. You always deliver me.