A bad case of Stripes!

On Wed. E gets to go to the school library, he just loves it. I always wait in anticipation to see what he may  bring home, in the past we have had  quite a variety! We have had history of trains, Sea creatures, famous landmarks of America, now that one was cool, and the most interesting of all was one week we had the "yucky book" which was a very detailed book on bugs and dustmites that lurk in our homes, yes makes for very interesting bedtime reading. Today he brought home a book called " A bad case of Stripes". After shower time  the boys and I sat down with excitement to read this book! It was about a  young girl called Camilla Cream who loved Lima beans but because her friends didn't like them she wouldn't eat them because she was scared  of what her friends would think. She was always worried about what others thought of her, so in the story she started to turn into whatever people would say about her or the advice they would give her !
In the end she realized that it was ok for her to eat Lima beans if she liked them,  it really didn't matter if people thought she was weird!

I of course got thinking about this story and how it can be applied to our lives. I think of how much time and energy I put into worrying about what others think about me. Often fretting and worrying over silly things!  When I do this it robs my joy and steals away precious time and energy that I could be putting into other things! It also can make me miss out on things because my fear of what others may think holds me back!
At the end of the day we should be concerned about what does God think? Does our decisions, actions line up with His word? Are the things we are doing, saying,  the thoughts we are thinking are they glorifying to Him?
I think for a lot of  us  women especially we are often concerned about  what people think of our lives, our marriages, how we parent, how our children are acting, how we look physically! We compare ourselves so much that it often can take away from really enjoying good friendships with each other! So what if our pants don't match our shirt, our hair isn't the current style, we aren't driving the best car. We need to be using our time wisely, being the person God has intended us to be and enjoying the people and things in our lives he has blessed us with!

http://www.amazon.com/Bad-Case-Stripes-David-Shannon/dp/0590929976