Lifestyle

A Seemingly Perfect Life

September 19, 2018September 1, 2018 LauraJoli LookingJoliGood3 Comments

I say it all the time, social media is only the very best snapshots of the life we want to show the world. Don’t wish for someone else’s seemingly perfect life. We all have fears and tears and struggles. Be an encouragement to someone today, you never know what might be happening behind the filter.

I read this post on Facebook by a page I follow called Encouragement from Women Who Have Been There.

I have been encouraged by several of the posts that I have read there. This one in particular from Becki Rogers founder of Not Quite SuperMoms was especially interesting to me.

Biblical Abigail in a Modern-Day Setting

“If you read 1 Samuel 25, you’ll meet a lady who seems like a superwoman.
Humor me while I describe Abigail in a modern setting: she’s got a college education. Her hair is perfectly styled and her roots never show. She’s fit, hitting the home gym every morning without fail. Her Bible is well-worn, and her prayer journal is opened daily. Her home is decorated like the pages of a magazine, and her weekly shopping trips include stops at all the best boutiques. Her personal cook and housekeeper adore her, and her Instagram account has 450k followers. You might know her. Or, you might follow her Instagram account. You might secretly wish you could be her. I can’t blame you. I would want to be her too! But beyond those pristine photo filters, her marriage is a mess. Her husband is a drunken, incorrigible man, and she silently wipes tears as she fixes his messes. She is a peacemaker on his behalf, carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders day after day.

I know, I know. The Bible doesn’t say all that about Abigail, but it DOES say that she was wise, and peacekeeping, and wealthy (at least, her husband was). It also mentions that she was pretty. In today’s world, she could have been everything described above.

However, her home life was miserable, to put it mildly. The Bible describes Nabal, her husband, as a cruel and brutal man in all his dealings. And yet, despite being married to such a man, she didn’t waver in her faithfulness to her loathsome husband.

The story takes an unexpected turn when the future king, David, came along. Her husband was rude to David and his men, and David planned retaliation. Abigail secretly defied her husband and humbly approached David with food and an offer of peace, taking the blame for her husband. Sadly, she’d probably had to do this many times before.

Instagram filters can hide a host of heartache. Don’t assume another mom isn’t struggling just because her social media looks good.

I love how Abigail wisely approaches David —first with food, and then with reason. There’s very little that a good meal can’t pacify! In addition to the food offering, she humbly suggested to David that to avenge himself by killing her husband (as well as their entire household—including Abigail herself) would not be in his best interests. She de-escalated the situation by appealing to his conscience: she reminded him of who he was—the Lord’s soldier, fighting His battles. She gently suggested that he would later regret having this bloodshed on his hands, and she prophesied that all of his enemies would be as cursed as her husband was. Talk about a crisis negotiator! I need some of that wisdom in refereeing my kids’ bickering!

***(Challenge)
The bottom line is, I don’t have a clue what struggles you’re facing based on your social media posts. I can imagine that those pretty filters hide a lot of tears. You don’t know what another mom is facing either. Don’t wish for her life, no matter how good it looks. Instead, we need to pray for each other. Call a friend today and ask if there’s anything you can pray about. It may look like she’s got it all together, but she may be silently begging God for a friend. Be that one. And if you’re the one struggling behind closed doors, reach out. Ask your Father to bring you a trusted confidant who may be able to give you wise, godly counsel.”

lookingjoligood.wordpress.com

I would love for you to follow me on Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook. You can find me as Looking Joli Good on all four.

Lifestyle

Antisocial Media

September 3, 2018 LauraJoli LookingJoliGood6 Comments

Recently took a long break from IG. During that time my perspective on a lot of things changed. During that break, I realized there are a lot of things about IG that I didn’t miss at all… There were also a few things that I did miss, like interacting with people about beauty products, so for now, I’m back at it. (If you want you can follow me by clicking HERE, if not that’s totally fine too. 😉)

When I first joined IG it used to be about fun. It used to be regular people sharing regular pictures of things that were happening right then. (Hence the “instant” part of the name Instagram). In the beginning, there were simple filters, but there were no ultra edited photos of picture-perfect situations. When Instagram decided to take the instant out of the equation, everything changed and it changed a lot of people too.

Instagram started to feel like a competition. When life turns into a competition we all lose. We lose the fun of it, we lose confidence in ourselves, we lose time thinking about it, we lose respect for people.

I don’t care to compete with the edited versions of life. I will not judge myself based on another person’s pictures, persona, or IG layout, and you shouldn’t either!

I don’t care about the number of likes or what the insight says. It doesn’t matter to me what is the best time of day to post or the # getting the most views. During my 4 month break, I didn’t miss keeping track of that stuff. I don’t want to be “Instagram famous”! I’m just planning to post pictures of the things I like, the products I love and things I want to share with people. I’m not perfect and my pictures aren’t going to be either.

So, if you want to follow me onInstagram, cool, but if you don’t also cool. Either way, what I post on IG will be a representation of me and all the things I like… mostly makeup, flowers, my dog, and inspirational sayings.

I would love for you to follow me on Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook. You can find me as Looking Joli Good on all four.

Love and Life

Just Bloom!

August 24, 2016August 22, 2016 LauraJoli LookingJoliGood2 Comments

Recently I have been thinking about the effects of comparison and competitiveness . I am not one of those crazy competitive people. I don’t get mad if I lose a game or get upset if I am not always #1. I don’t need to win at every single thing I do. I don’t feel the need to constantly prove to everyone that I am the best at everything. But…when it comes to certain things that I think I am good at I do have a super competitive spirit.

I think that having a spirit of competitiveness is both a good and bad thing. It is often nice to have competition to help give a push for us to be better. Some people bring out my good competitive side. These people make me want to be a better version of myself. A few years ago while at my husband’s Aunt’s funeral, I remember as everyone was talking about what a wonderful wife, mother, friend, and person she was, I was inspired to be a better person myself. She lived such a positive and influential life that I wanted to be a better person.

Other people bring out the negative competitive side of me and make me want to be better than they are. See the difference…While competition is not a bad thing, I think that comparison usually tends to be a negative thing. Knowing the difference between the two is not always easy.

“Comparison is the thief of joy.”-Theodore Roosevelt

I think in this world of social media, it is so hard not to get sucked into comparing ourselves with others. Due to social media we see so much more of people’s “private” lives. The problem is that we are usually comparing all of our flaws with the snapshots of a edited filtered picture perfect life. Their reality is that they also have flaws that we do not see.

Sometimes, I have to stop and ask myself “Why am I doing what I am doing?” Sometimes I know exactly why. Sometimes the answer is clear and positive. Sometimes I don’t really know what my motivation is. Sometimes I have to really take a step back and be honest with myself, why am I doing what I am? I don’t always like the answer that I have to give myself.

Galatians 6:4

⁴Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else,

My husband has the perfect balance of competitiveness without comparison. He doesn’t let others effect him negatively. His competitive spirit gives him motivation without being a detriment. He definitely has a solid self worth.

I am glad when I can recognized when feelings of comparison and competitiveness are affecting me negatively. When I feel myself comparing and being competitive in a negative way, I have been trying to distance myself from the source. I remind myself that the only person that I need to be competing with is who I see in the mirror. I need to focus on being a better version of myself than I was yesterday… it is not always easy.

2 Corinthians 10:12

¹²We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise.

I would love for you to follow me on Instagram and Facebook. You can find me as Looking Joli Good on both. I would also love to follow you as well, so let me know your user name in the comment section below!

Share this:

Share this:

“Comparison is the thief of joy.”-Theodore Roosevelt

Galatians 6:4

4 Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else,

2 Corinthians 10:12

12 We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise.

Share this:

⁴Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else,

¹²We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise.