Signs...

On Saturday, I met some girls out for breakfast and talk,   and you know the effect of coffee and water combination on a girl...    so I had to take a pause from the conversation.

Nothing else needs said...  LOL

This sign just cracked me up,  granted, I was a bit sleep deprived and hung over from my crazy week so I am sure it wouldn't have taken much to make that happen.   If you know me well,  you know when I am suffering the combination of these two things,  I am more likely to be extremely honest,  start singing random songs that I make up from the top of my head and I find humor in the oddest places....    this sign was one of those places.

I know, your thinking I am experiencing one of those moments now...  and in truth you might be right.  I will try not to break out in song...  maybe.

First this sign is missing the line,  when returning to  work and it gives the Spanish translation.   Why not Italian,  Arabic....  Latin...  Okay, that truly is a rabbit trail...   I have always found it humorous that places have to post this sign to let people know that the employees are washing their hands prior to returning to work...   This sign was funnier because it missed a line I was use to seeing and honestly the fact that we have to let people know that hands were washed in a place that they should honestly be washed....  common sense.  

Yes,  I know....  I know what could be said here....

Maybe I find it funnier than normal because it is so normal in our society...  where everything is public knowledge because of social media....    signs....  media in general.... texting... cell phones...  I think about how many texts I have sent that said, I am stopping to get gas,  go to the grocery store before I come home....     so many of our generic life actions are public knowledge....     I have lost count of the conversations I have heard from a stall in the bath room.   Some I even wondered if they realized this was a public restroom... !!!

We post our generic lives,   our highlights...  our desperate need for prayers... (which is one thing I am thankful for regarding such open communication)      I am not downing all this,  I myself enjoy seeing the kid photos,  and you know I will post pictures of my beautiful nieces and nephews.   I have been guilty of all the posts....   I guess,  what struck me funny is that we have to tell people our every step and food we are eating but we don't share the genuine articles of our life... the real.     You know,  socks left on the floor...   the kitchen that needs attention....   the makeup less life.  

Someone told me earlier this week that Instagram has increased the amount of teenage suicides....  I believe this.... I believe it has caused numerous amounts of depressive pauses in adults as well.   We have become a society where the comparison chart has grown and become way more accessible than it ever has been.....

I remember being is 7th grade and going to gym class,   my friend had a pair of powder blue Nike's.  Nike's were just coming out and becoming popular.... I know that gives my age away.....  LOL  You know I had to walk a mile in feet of snow to get to the bus stop too...     Anyway,   I was so desirous of those shoes but I came from a family where your wants didn't kill you and when I asked for them, I was told not now, maybe for your birthday,  well, my birthday is in May and it would be way to late to show them off in gym class.    The thing is,  I saw them day in and out during that one class and it was frustrating....  I honestly thought the shoes would make me more acceptable in 7th grade,  in a school where I really didn't know anyone because I already stood out with my northern Maryland accent....   I looked at my gym shoes and they were a brand that didn't represent coolness.

The thing is,  I only had to deal with seeing them for 45 minutes a day....  it wasn't a constant presence of what I didn't have..... not like today where the reminders are ever present and constantly renewed and shared....

If I jet decades forward,  that same pressure I felt over not having the shoes the popular kids had is still present and increased today.... maybe not with shoes but with kids.... happy couple outings....  the ever stigma and reminder of what is not possessed but society seems to push and make you think it is needed to make you acceptable to the crowd....    I don't believe that I am the only one that experiences this pressure....  I think anyone dealing in today's society and dabbling in the internet, watching HGTV,  or social media.... and honestly in today's relationships feels it.  

You feel the inadequacy...

The signs are everywhere telling you what you should do,  or not do....   what to expect from other people....    What this dream life should possibly look like.....

It came to me earlier this week how in my attempt to fit a label,  to keep peace,  I am bowing down to the devil thinking I am pleasing my ABBA when all He has called me to do is be who He has created and this does not include bowing down to my enemy or enemies in the name of peace or comparison.

I didn't share the laughter I had over the sign with the girls that day but our conversation did go to the drain of comparison... and the effects on our spirits from all the reminders we take in, how we allow them to speak inadequacy to our minds and spirits....  

Maybe I am longing for signs by the restroom mirror that say....Hey beautiful,   you're enough....   your accepted....  no need for competing because there is only one you....  written in a heart language that is understood by all....  but in truth, I have those mirror signs when I look in the mirror and remind myself that I was created in His image... that in my reflection is a part of Him....