This Is It.
What I am about to say is going to show an ugly side of myself. Just want to give you that fair warning.
Sometimes, I look around at my life and I think, “This is it? This is all there is?”
I know! It’s awful, isn’t it? It doesn’t happen often, but every now and then I will hit a spell where that question forms in my mind for a couple days… and festers. “This is it?”
I love my life, but occasionally, I get a case of the covetsies. You know that part of the B-I-B-L-E where it says you shouldn’t covet they neighbor’s wife? Well, I don’t think that verse is limited to coveting wives. I think it extends to, you know, like, everything. You shouldn’t be pining away for things someone else has. You should be happy with what you have instead. And I am. About 98% of the time. But then the other 2% of the time, I have the covetsies. I see what others have – a nicer home, a higher paying job, bigger vacations, someone to clean their house, quieter dogs, a better garden, nicer clothes… – and I covet.
I think I’ve shared before that one of the best sermons I’ve ever heard was about how we shouldn’t want what others have because their gifts and blessings were meant for their lives, not ours. So if I coveted someone else’s home and actually got it somehow, it still wouldn’t fulfill me because that home wasn’t meant for me. It was meant for someone else. I love that idea, and I try to remind myself of that when the covetsies show up.
The best cure for the covetsies, though, is not in any prolific sermon or Bible verse or abstract ideology. You can’t stitch the best cure for the covetsies onto a pillow. Because here is my best cure:
And here…
These people are my cure. When I am tempted to look around and ask, “This is it?” The only answer to that questions is yes. Yes, THIS IS IT.
This is what it is all about.
THIS.
Right here.
THIS IS IT.
It’s laundry and dishes and fevers and temper tantrums and meal planning and baking cookies and teaching and swimming and singing and dancing and arriving 10 minutes late to church and forgetting the dog food and kisses in the hallway and skinned knees and date nights and neighborhood walks and rainy days and Disney World and movies on mommy’s bed and snack time and lemonade and Chuck E. Cheese and bad hair days and getting too fat for all my clothes and clipping coupons and fighting and making up and mowing the grass and wiping runny noses and holding hands and potty training and bedtime stories and FaceTime with family and vacations and working late and friendships and phone calls and emails and play dates and saying our prayers.
This is it.
It is tempting to look around at what other have, to covet, to ask, “This is it? This is all there is?” But if I honestly ask myself that question, my answer will always, always be yes.
Yes, this is it. This is all there ever needs to be.
18 Comments
Michelle
It is hard to not get a case of the covetsies once in a while. I have to sit back and remind myself that I am blessed and that much of what we have in our lives is more than others have- that we have been very fortunate to keep our jobs and home in this time of uncertainty, we have our cars and my husband knows how to fix them, and most of all, we have our healthy and happy 6 month old son. I know we’re blessed. But every once in a while you do hit that “this is it?” moment- I think that’s just human nature.
Laura
I heard a great saying recently that Americans are very good at comparing ourselves to the few who have more than us instead of the billions in this world who have less than us. I try to remember that the times I’m wanting the bigger house/vacation/cleaning lady that someone is looking at me and wants my security/good health/clean water etc. As someone who always compares myself I’ve learned perspective is my antidote.
johanna
I really enjoyed this post! Made me step back and really think. Thanks for the wise words once again! Also, I adore that last picture!!
Alyssa
It’s funny you write this post because I often covet what YOU have. HAHAHAHA!! Your life seems so idyllic to me. I strive to have a life like yours. I think you and your family are amazing!
Jenna
As always, I love your honesty. And that last picture gets me every time!! 🙂
Jody
Amen.
Beanie, Gracie & Tillman's Nana
Smart girl! Treasure every day.
Whitney M.@ themarriedme.com
I love that you call it the covetsies. I’ve totally been struggling with this lately. In fact I just shed tears as I watched a tv news show which showed people who were laid off from their jobs, losing their houses, eating out of soup kitchens. It was like a mini slap in the face from above. I may be struggling, but I’m not that bad off. It could be worse. It could be way worse. I think the tears have a little shame in them.
Meghan
I also feel this way sometimes, and I think it’s completely normal. I will say that I think Facebook and Pinterest can create and encourage the “covetsies”. I have resisted Pinterest completely for that reason, and I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook. I like to keep up to date with my friends (seeing their kids, having glimpses into what they’re up to), but I can also see Facebook’s negative effects in my life. The more time I spend on Facebook, the easier it is to “covet” others’ things/lives/whatever, instead of focusing on everything I have and what’s special and wonderful about my own life.
Brittany
When you adult life takes shape, even if it’s the exact shape you always wanted, planned, and hoped for, I think it’s only natural to imagine all the other possible shapes your life could have had and say “What if?” The trouble is when you fail to appreciate the shape your life has taken and let regret settle in to your heart.
Kelly H
YES!!! Yes yes yes! I am tearing up an noddin my head as I read this. You are so right and how blessed are we!
Suzanne
Remember how you were questioning if you should still be blogging? This. This right here is why you blog. Thank you for writing this, Katie.
Tracy
Thank you for this. I had that same thought about, This is it? this weekend and then I looked at my two girls and husband and remembered THIS is what was meant for me. I love it and wouldn’t trade it for anything. 🙂
Robin
Thank you for the reminder on this! I’m having the covetsies now too. But you’re right – what I covet was made for their lives, not mine. And I couldn’t be more happier for the others that are getting what they deserve. I just now need to be happy for all that I have!
Andrea
Thanks.
Jen @ Ginger Guide
I think it’s perfectly normal to have these feelings but I’m happy to see that you are able to look around and truly see how many blessings (both tall and small) that you have. With my job I see so many people who have it so much worse than me and that has nipped my covetsies in the bud…well for the most part. Just don’t go on the rich kids of instagram tumblr blog. It makes it worse. Trust me on this.
NS
I love this post. Thank you for the reminder about finding joy in the small, everyday things.
Elizabeth R
So true! Thanks for the reminder. And on a totally unrelated note: where did you get your family rules sign? I love it!