Focusing on My Circus & My Monkeys

Awhile back I stumbled across this graphic……

circus

I’ve been thinking about it ever since.

My life, by many definitions, is a 3 ring circus, run by some of the cutest monkey’s around.  Between work, home school, LOTS of food preparation and clean up (sometimes it feels like that’s actually ALL I do… who came up with the idea of 3 meals a day anyway?!?), errands, etc…. there is a lot to juggle, and with our next sweet monkey well on HER way (eeek)…. the fun is only just begun!

It’s time.  Actually its long past time, but its common knowledge I’m stubborn in giving up my own guilty pleasures, and Facebook is squarely at the top of that list!   I LOVE being in the know.  Who’s engaged.  Who’s pregnant.  Cute new baby pictures. OH MY LORD. The baby pictures alone has sustained me these last six months as I tried harder and harder to ignore the onslaught of every type of direct marketing known to man.  When the stupid games like Farmville and Candy crush came out, I learned how to hide the notifications.  My account barely survived the 2012 elections.  Then there is the intermittent vitriol commentary over some horrific crime, and who’s to blame, or a new stance/article rehashing some old mommy war topic, breastfeeding, attachment parenting, cosleeping, why its working, why its not, blah blah blah blah blah!  Some days I can still gloss over it, but others I feel myself pulled in, wanting to comment, and occasionally doing so…. Climbing into a virtual ring with monkeys slinging poo left and right, while at the same time telling my monkeys to be quiet, I’m ‘busy’.

Not my monkey’s….. Not my circus.

The direct marketing schemes seem to be the end for me though.  The status updates I used to love to see have gotten buried a midst post after post about how the new face creams, make-up products, Beach Body, shakeology, every other weight loss product or work-out program known to man, and essential oils, are life changing.  If ONLY I would get involved and buy this or that, I too could have perfect skin, a slim body, energy to boot, and if by chance I wanted to join their team, I could probably earn my entire income and a new car in like 6 months?!?

I understand the need for social media/marketing when running a direct sales campaign, and I don’t fault anyone for exploiting it as they pursue their ventures, and I’m glad these life changing products are working for so many, really I am.  If you have the added bonus of making extra money with them… Great!  I just miss the updates on how life was going for you, when the days were tough, if you needed prayer, how your kids were driving you bonkers or making you swoon with adorableness.  Now I see before and after shots of bodies or faces, or get recipes for how mixing this with that will BLOW. MY. MIND. and bring peace and tranquility to my home.  I live with 3 small boys currently….. NO AMOUNT OF OIL will bring total peace and tranquility to my house.  I use oils… and love them, but its oil, not love potion #9, and they are siblings.  They fight.  It’s what they do.

The thing of it is, its harder to walk away from than it should be.  Some days (lots) it feels like one of my last lifelines to the outside world.  Relationships that mean the world to me, friendships that have walked through every different season of my life at one point or another.  It feels like walking away makes the walls of my house get that much smaller, and makes a perceived insignificance more pronounced as a result.  I know that’s a lie, but when our culture is doing everything it can to send the message that our significance is directly correlated to your network and span of reach, and I only leave the house for maybe a grand total of 15 hours a week, you can see how one might struggle with the idea of significance.  I don’t need the pep talk about how pouring our lives into the next generation is of the greatest significance… we all know our own truths DEEP down, and we also know in the minutia of the day to day, those truths can be easily forgotten.

However…. in God’s infinite wisdom He’s not only layered annoying Facebook trend after annoying layout shift, after divisive debates, after direct marketing campaigns, to assist in the separation…. He orchestrated a 6wk series on ‘surrender’ and ‘obedience’ to coincide with all of these feelings.  Well played God… well played.  I had originally tried to justify leaving my account active, and just having Kevin change the password, so I couldn’t get on.  It was a good plan, I thought.  That resulted in God calling me out on partial obedience this weekend, and then a dinner out with the girls last night had me saying, out loud, my area of straight up CONTINUED disobedience, and when you say it out loud it just sounds stupid, that getting off Facebook for good is really that big of a deal.

So…. today is the day.   If you want to follow pictures and updates from our little circus, and meet our sweet little Miss when she makes her debut, follow the blog.  Also…. if you follow the blog…. COMMENT from time to time!  Do you know how weird it is to bump into someone that finishes a story you are telling them because they already read about it.  Awkward.  I’m all like…. sorry for telling you something I didn’t know you already knew.  I realize it comes with the territory of blogging, but chances are good if I know you’re reading, I won’t bore you with a story repeat!   There is this other small, comical, debate that I remain engaged in with God, that you’ll get to watch unfold if you follow blog updates.  Anyone else, when they’re struggling with obedience make these ridiculous claims to God… the ones that start with… ‘yeah, well if I obey you in this area… this thing that I’m hoping for will NEVER happen’.  Because we can say things like “God you could never do this” and EVER be right?!?  See…. its a comical debate.   So I’m convinced that if I’m not on Facebook posting links to my AMAZING blog 😉 no one will EVER find it, and my dream of becoming a writer/speaker/lover of all people will amount to absolutely nothing…. All because I can’t be on Social Media making posts.  Clearly a very well thought out and obvious conclusion….. EXCEPT for God.  Except for the fact maybe… just MAYBE…. He’s got better plans in place for the hours I can find myself wasting here that will take my life on adventures FAR too big for me to even dream up…. Except for THAT.    So I’m gonna trust Him that the walls won’t close in, that I won’t miss out on any of the important details that I love and would miss, because I’ll actually have time to be IN relationship WITH the people I love!  Also… chances are good fair, that because I won’t be able to cyber stalk the peeps I love that I may attempt to bring snail mail back, or actually call you… you know on the phone, or at the very least text to make sure I’m not missing out on anything TOO crazy… and also to ask for a gratuitous cute baby picture text, because let’s be honest, they’re like crack, and I’m gonna need a fix!

****For those sticklers that will check if my profile is still active, I’ll save you the time, (though I can’t imagine why you would be concerned) my plan is to leave it active for the next few days while I remove any pictures/videos and give time for family/friends to see this post and hop over to the blog and follow it.   My goal is to submit the ‘official’ Facebook account deactivation request  by the weekend.  This will also pull down my ‘Growing Yup’ Facebook page, so you have to actually FOLLOW the blog, not just like the Facebook button, else you won’t receive the updates.***

My monkeys…. Hanging around 🙂

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Believing for an INCREDIBLE 2015 full of breakthrough and miracles for all of our family and friends!!!  Love y’all!!!

4 comments

  1. Rachael J. says:

    I read your posts & will keep reading even after the link is off FB 🙂 I think my FB days are dwindling too. I am forced to be connected to my phone for work, so I owe it to my boys to put the damn thing down whenever, and as often, as I can. While I care greatly about the lives of my friends & family, their pics and status updates shouldn’t distract me from hearing J, H or J’s real life status updates 🙂
    Much love friend!!

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