Food Gone Wild!

On Sunday, our preacher spoke about adultery and its impact on the whole family. Matthew 5:27-30 tells us that it is better to cut your eye out than to commit adultery and that merely lusting after a woman is a sin. Our Preacher mentioned that adultery can be anything that can keep us from connecting and enjoying our spouse the way God intended us to.

Examples that he gave us were not just the traditional focus on pornography but also movies or novels that women use as yardsticks to measure their spouse against. He made a valid point that pornography is "a woman acting in a way that only a man would" and that romance novels are "a man acting as only a woman would". It really got me thinking... about Pinterest of all things.

(Side note: there is a reason this blog is "Random Thoughts with Jaime".)

Pinterest is "interesting". Mostly women post projects and creations they've "upcycled" or "hand-crafted" or "semi-homemade". In general, I think it is nice to have a place to go and look for inspiration on crafts and organizational things. But, I think this site could potentially become adulterous for some.. and not just in the sense that it keeps you away from your spouse and children for HOURS at a time.

I think that some of the ideas can create an idea in kids that life is always supposed to look pretty or your food should always be crafted to look like something else, or that if your house isn't perfectly organized then there is something wrong. Here are some examples:

This fridge is lovely. It's really organized. I like to have an organized fridge too. But, at what point are you wasting valuable time with your kids and witnessing to make your fridge look picture perfect. Then the time to upload and "pin it"?

I appreciate the whole cute factor of making food look like other things. However, I think you can take things WAYYYY too far. This toddler doesn't care that it looks like a bear, I can guarantee. If you've spent any time around a toddler, you can pretty much assume that they might have a melt-down while you are making their food look like something else. Then they have to take it apart and still do something else further to eat it? That sounds like a recipe for disaster. Food SHOULD look good, but eating doesn't always have to be entertainment. Again.. how much are you looking for applause from someone else vs. trying to give your child enjoyment?

(Side note: Those skewers look dangerous with a toddler...)

Perfect house? Are we teaching our kids that in order to be successful, they need a huge custom house with perfectly manicured lawn and perfectly decorated interior with perfectly organized kitchen and fridge (with food sculptures inside)? I think so. This all boils down to materialism. Even if it isn't a huge house, when making things "appear" perfect becomes a way of life (and then taking photos of it for the world to ooh and ahh over), it can become adultery.



Ultimately, I think the overriding message the world is sending to your kids through TV and these sites is: "What you have isn't good enough." In his sermon, Preacher mentioned that he is seeing a growing trend of kids waiting until later and later to get married. They just can't seem to find "the right one". He said that he thinks that is because our media is telling us what real life should be. When he said that, I thought, "An airbrushed, perfectly clothed (even if it is hipster style clothing!!!) woman who has a perfectly organized and clean house and fridge, time for food sculptures and later resembles a porn star in bed when she is done putting the perfectly bathed and dressed children to bed with no fussiness. (All done while updating perfectly taken photos on facebook, pinterest, and twitter.)

What would the husband look like? A man who has rugged handsomeness, washboard abs, and wakes up thinking, "What do you need me to do honey?", who makes you your morning coffee (or Diet Coke in my case) and brings you your perfectly behaved children to your bed and enjoys a little quiet time before heading out to work. On the way to work, he drops off the dry cleaning, deposits extra money in savings accounts for children, and sends you a text to say, "I miss you already." While at work, he makes sure to call you several times and ask what you need before heading home. On his way home, he picks up milk and bread, and of course some flowers for you. When he walks in the door, he says, "Here honey, let me change the baby's diaper and you go rest. He reads bedtime stories after putting away the dishes (of course in the right spot) and never asks for you to bed him if you aren't in the mood. At night, he has pillow talk that your best friend can't compete with and just before drifting off to sleep, he tells you he loves your recent blog that he read on lunch break and you're the best mom and wife ever... every single night.

Now, you may scoff at this and say, "People know that is not what is really going to happen in marriage." But, do they? After you receive the message a million times over on TV, movies, books, pornography, etc, don't you start to believe it? Don't you start thinking that maybe there is something wrong with you if your fridge isn't perfectly organized?

So, now I've renamed Pinterest. New name? SINterest. So, let's be REAL. There was only one man who ever walked this Earth that was perfect. Let's go back to pleasing GOD first, husband next, child next. And let's also put that food sculpturing to rest, unless you get paid for it and that's your way of earning money.

Thank you to Preacher and a Dear Friend who inspired this blog post.