Real Simple.

When we moved to Haiti and realized that we would have to pay almost $2 per pound to receive mail...we cancelled all our magazine subscriptions.  

All but one that is.

I couldn't seem to part with Real Simple.  

It's images are clean.  Organized.  Quiet.

Spotless living rooms with costly furniture, beautiful carpets, fragile glass vases.

Succulent recipes with bright berries, rich sauces, tantalizing creams.

Peaceful women with inspired gazes, flowing clothing, perfect teeth.

You know...
like the opposite of stepping on a plastic dinosaur with my black-bottom foot in a sweat-drenched shirt that's been doubling as a napkin/kleenex/boo-boo blotter, all while standing over the stove with a bawling baby on my hip, two visitors at the door and yet another pot of bubbling (you guessed it) rice and beans.

Breathe in, breathe out...there's always Real Simple.  It might be imaginary, but it's a nice, quiet, cool place.  Emphasis on cool.  Or quiet.  Depends on the day.

BUT

When my October issue arrived, and a few evenings later I finally curled up  stretched out (it will NEVER be cool enough to curl) with a cup of coffee to enjoy my happy place, I realized only a few pages in that I was scanning the pages and subconsciously muttering...WHAT?  That's such garbage!

Here's what I got, blow by blow.

$310 Million: The estimated amount Americans spent last year on Halloween costumes for their PETS.
Where I'm sitting, this is incredibly hard to deal with.  
Where you're sitting, I hope it's incredibly hard to deal with.

My night was ruined.  My night SHOULD have been ruined.  I'm pretty sure I CAN'T deal with this stat.  I keep telling myself that can't be right, and choosing to live in ignorance, because I can't walk out my gate with this information in my mind without feeling sick and terribly depressed.  

And I want to shred the page--want to make sure that none of the people who pick through our garbage and take food and items that we deemed "trash" find the page and have it translated.

10 Items Every Woman Should Own
They are ALL clothing.  All 10.

Essential for every woman according to Real Simple: black pants...black suit...black clutch.

Essential for every woman according to the world's reality:  food.  Enough food for your husband. AND your kids.  Education for your child.  Even better, education for ALL your children.  Enough money for education AND food.  Water.  Even dirty water.  Medical care.  Enough money for medical care AND food... Jesus.

I am left wondering why "every woman" doesn't include ANY of the women I live with, doesn't include me.

How to Turn Your Money into Even More of Your Money
The more we see stuff like this, the more we read stuff like this, the more we say stuff like this, the more we believe stuff like this.  

There have been a lot of things I once believed that the last 10 years have changed, and one of them is this: that my money, my time, my stuff, even my life is my money, my time, my stuff, my life. 

The more I think of things as mine, the further I seem to stray from Biblical living:  giving, trusting the Lord, forking over my first and then joyfully handing over my second, too...do good even to my enemies, give without expecting return, seek first the kingdom of God, whoever asks you to go one mile, go with him two, not worrying about tomorrow.

Vices You Should Keep: Gossip
The article says that, "There isn't only great pleasure that comes in gossiping, but it can also be beneficial...Information is power, and its dissemination (spread) reduces the influence of the people who had it first.  Human language evolved so we could gain social information."

Talk about sweetening up sin!  Proverbs 20:19 tells us not even to associate with gossip, 2 Corinthians 12:20 pairs gossip with slander, arrogance, jealousy and strife...women, especially, are encouraged in 1&2 Timothy and Titus not to be gossips, without self control and talking about things that should never be mentioned, but instead to be faithful and temperate (showing restraint).  

Here I am, working on these things because my Bible by day is telling me to flee, and my Real Simple by night is encouraging me to indulge.  

Add in 150 pages of things I wish I had, and by the end my usual "peaceful place" had me instead feeling quite discontent with my frumpy, faded, sticky, rice and water life.  Frustrated with my constantly-mess-making family.  Unsatisfied with the monotony of dull, hard-working days instead of vibrant, exciting life in heels!

By the time I finished flipping through the thick pages and lovely colors of my Real Simple, the real simple truth seemed to be this: 

while there may be nothing wrong with enjoying a magazine 

(or facebook, or that blog, or that friend, or tv, etc...) 

there are SO many mixed messages being thrown at us constantly 

(and you more than me, perhaps, depending on your culture)...

messages that all seem to line up and sound right, 

until we lay them next to Scripture.

Our standard, family, isn't supposed to be anywhere close to magazine-standard, to tv-standard.

Nowhere close to everyone-else-standard.  

Our standard for our lives isn't even supposed to be church-standard, or best-person-I-know standard.

Our life is to now be hidden in Christ!  We are to measure to the standard of the fullness of Christ! (Eph 4:13). 

As intimidating and overwhelming as this reality can be: 

Our standard is CHRIST.  The way he spoke is the way we are to speak.  The way He lived is the way we're supposed to live.  The way His Word tells us to think and to act and to dream is how we're supposed to think...act...dream.

That is the standard that allows us to live in the love and freedom Christ died for.  And the standard we will be judged by.  And the standard we are to measure our lives by.

His.

And the more I expose myself to the things that are "Real Simple" to the world, the more I become comfortable with a standard that God NEVER set for me.  As His dearly beloved child, He holds so much more for us than this!  Wants, and expects, so much more...and offers and provides His very help!

Perhaps it is time for me to give up my subscription to the world's standard of things, though, like gossip, it does bring great pleasure.  

Perhaps my time, and my heart, could be better spent and refreshed and focused by dwelling on the rest, comfort, encouragement and peace that comes, not from new furniture, not from a spotless home, not from a finished list...but from Him.