Pondering in my heart..

I have been pondering some things lately in my heart..
Women in today's world feel so much pressure. Some of it the world puts on us, some we put on ourselves and some we put on each other.
Women are pressured to be this weight, to look this way and to never grow old. Why are we all so afraid to admit our age? What is it about growing older that makes us all so afraid?

As women who stay at home we feel pressure to bake everything from scratch, can every harvest, grind our own grain, cloth diaper, clothesline dry our clothes, eat vegan or darn close to it. Use herbs to treat illness, homebirth, etc.. In todays world they call this a crunchy granola mama..
But what if we don't do all those things? What if we only do some of them? And what if we only do some of them some of the time?? Does that really mean we're less of a woman or a mama? Does it make the one who isn't doing all of this less than the one who is? When we stand before Yeshua will He ask us if we made all our meals from scratch or if we used cloth diapers? Or will our faith on Him and our works that come from that faith be what He speaks of?
Why do we think we're not as much as someone who does do all those things? Why do we judge mama's who don't do things as we do?

I am going to let you all in on a little secret...
I do grind my own grain..sometimes..Sometimes life gets so busy that I simply don't have the time and will grab the wheat flour in my freezer that I keep on hand.
I do cloth diaper but I put a disposable on my baby at night becuz of his sensitive skin. The first two weeks of my babies lives they wear disposables (until the meconium is gone because it stains) and when I am healed and rested and can take on more duties once again.
We do cook from scratch but will sometimes buy a quick food when money permits and time is short.
I honestly don't like canning food. I canned peach jam this past harvest and although I didn't enjoy it I am glad I did it because it was super yummy. I will do more next year. My dh loves to can and he does most of the canning in our home. Do I feel like I am less because of this? NOPE! I am thankful my dh helps me as much as he does!
Do we dry our clothes on a clothesline? Well, we have for many years but we started using our dryer and I really enjoyed having one. Then the end of this past July our dryer broke and living where we do with all of the rain and humidity meant that keeping 11 peoples clothing washed and dried became extremely hard! Just yesterday we finally got it fixed and I am so happy to have it back! I love my dryer!!!
We don't eat vegan. We do try to eat healthy but I have been known to eat a yummy cheeseburger here and there..:)
We do use herbs to treat illness but if it was needed we wouldn't think twice about going into the dr..
And yes I homebirth. It's what I feel is best for me and baby.. but I have birthed in the hospital twice and I am still here to live to tell about it..:) If I had to birth in the hospital I would but thankfully the L-rd has allowed me to have easy good births and I am able to birth at home.
Do any of these things make me a better servant of Christ? Do any of these things make me a better mama then the next person? I don't believe so!
I LOVE my children! I LOVE my husband! I try to be a good mama to my kiddos and a good wifey to my dh. I have bad days where I feel like pulling my hair out..days where I feel like screaming! Hey, I have 9 children I homeschool and am pg...so ya, I have those kind of days..
I am not perfect..I am like all other women just a work in progress! His work!
The only thing that really does matter is that I am following Yeshua and His word and doing as He has commanded. The rest of it can burn away as in the end what will remain is the things I obeyed from His word..they will build upon that foundation...

I am who I am and I want that to be simply a woman of G-d!!