Didn't We Almost Have It All?
Not one of Whitney's greatest tunes (So many others worthy of note, from Saving All My Love For You, to the giddy I Wanna Dance With Somebody through to the anthem with attitude It's Not Right, But It's OK, but anyway...) - but serves the point of what I've been thinking about a lot for months now.
That "you can have it all" thing. So what is up with that? Patently untrue, I reckon and not sure its the way to be. When I was at school ( all girl school - hmmm, not sure Tia will go through that...) I was told women could be anything, have anything, should expect to have everything that guys got. I'm not sure who told me. Maybe it was the teen classic "Just Seventeen", maybe it was my friends, maybe teachers who were trying to get us all to stop talking and do some work. In the end having it all was what I was supposed to expect out of life. To have the great career, the great relationships, to see the world, to have a family. And somehow it would all blissfully work together seamlessly.
And as a Christian, you'd have it all through God's help.
Perfect advice for a driven personality!
The irony is, the worldview served a purpose when I was younger. It got me looking beyond the council estate and working towards a different future, somewhere far away from being a statistic.
But tell me this -how do you know when you've actually got it all? Like,when are you satisifed? Sometimes I think the concept gives you an insatiable appetite for more. Its like its the opposite of contentment. It keeps you lookinbg at what you haven't got, or what someone else has and striving for more and it keeps us competitive. So maybe its not for the same things as when we were teenagers. But its amazing how the same old insecurities and motives resurface in our adult lives. And it can make for a stressful existence . Have a read of what happened when my generation of women started growing up.
So right now I am learning an alternative approach.
Choices.
I can't spin all the plates I used to - so I'm just going to choose a few. I'm not going to try it all. I'll just pray and work out the priorities that I'm s'posed to have. So one plate will say Mum. Another: Wife. Maybe another will say" Domestic Goddess" ( I live in hope!). One will say "Christian". And I guess I'll discover the rest along the way. Some plates will definitely come crashing to the ground and some I won't even pick up. I think some will be easy to leave, whilst others will be a sacrifice. . Even when I know its not about having it all, occasionally I feel the drive to try ....I just have to keep ignoring that!
But that's just life though innit? You can't have it all. In the meantime, this is what I am aiming for
"...I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being
content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in
plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength."
Philippians 4:11b - 13
That "you can have it all" thing. So what is up with that? Patently untrue, I reckon and not sure its the way to be. When I was at school ( all girl school - hmmm, not sure Tia will go through that...) I was told women could be anything, have anything, should expect to have everything that guys got. I'm not sure who told me. Maybe it was the teen classic "Just Seventeen", maybe it was my friends, maybe teachers who were trying to get us all to stop talking and do some work. In the end having it all was what I was supposed to expect out of life. To have the great career, the great relationships, to see the world, to have a family. And somehow it would all blissfully work together seamlessly.
And as a Christian, you'd have it all through God's help.
Perfect advice for a driven personality!
The irony is, the worldview served a purpose when I was younger. It got me looking beyond the council estate and working towards a different future, somewhere far away from being a statistic.
But tell me this -how do you know when you've actually got it all? Like,when are you satisifed? Sometimes I think the concept gives you an insatiable appetite for more. Its like its the opposite of contentment. It keeps you lookinbg at what you haven't got, or what someone else has and striving for more and it keeps us competitive. So maybe its not for the same things as when we were teenagers. But its amazing how the same old insecurities and motives resurface in our adult lives. And it can make for a stressful existence . Have a read of what happened when my generation of women started growing up.
So right now I am learning an alternative approach.
Choices.
I can't spin all the plates I used to - so I'm just going to choose a few. I'm not going to try it all. I'll just pray and work out the priorities that I'm s'posed to have. So one plate will say Mum. Another: Wife. Maybe another will say" Domestic Goddess" ( I live in hope!). One will say "Christian". And I guess I'll discover the rest along the way. Some plates will definitely come crashing to the ground and some I won't even pick up. I think some will be easy to leave, whilst others will be a sacrifice. . Even when I know its not about having it all, occasionally I feel the drive to try ....I just have to keep ignoring that!
But that's just life though innit? You can't have it all. In the meantime, this is what I am aiming for
"...I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being
content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in
plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength."
Philippians 4:11b - 13
posted by Jo Saxton @ 8:52 PM
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