The Superman (or Superwoman) Complex

So lately my three year old son has been on a Superman kick. With the help of grandparents, he now has a Superman costume, Superman pajamas (with a detachable cape), a glow-in-the dark Superman t-shirt, and a regular Superman t-shirt. Minutes after dressing him for the day, I will notice he has once again changed his shirt back to his Superman pajamas and is racing around the house with one hand on his hip and the other fist forward mimicking the theme song to the Christopher Reeves Superman movies. When asked who he wants to be when he grows up, he quickly answers "Superman!" After all, who wouldn't want to be faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound?

Sometimes I catch myself attempting to be a Super-woman. I try to be someone I'm not. I try to do it all. At one point, I was working a part time job as a receptionist at a nursing home, a part time job doing home shows as a Premier Designs Jewelry Consultant, a once a week job babysitting, a once a week job housekeeping for a friend all while being a full time housekeeper of my own home, cook, wife, a homeschool mother of two energetic boys, as well as a volunteer youth group leader, Sunday school teacher, and counselor. It was a recipe for burnout and I quickly found out I needed to eliminate a few things I was involved in and prioritize better.

I don't want to be pulled in a million different directions, but I feel like a Pioneer exploring all new territory. I am new at writing (college papers don't count), new at blogging (I still haven't figured out how to really set up my blog the way I'd like it to be), new at homeschooling, and I only have 5 years under my belt as a mother and 6 years as a wife. There are so many things I want to do and be a part of and learn about and I find myself getting caught up in the excitement of the moment only to realize I've jumped on another bandwagon that has taken me off course. I read other women's blogs who are speakers and have years of blogging experience and parenting under their belts and I get overwhelmed at what I would like to accomplish someday.

Then God gives me a dose of perspective, brings me back down to earth, and reminds me to just be faithful in the little things. Instead of striving to be like all these other women (or in my mind, Super-women), I need to simply get alone with God and ask Him what he desires for me and my life now. After all, I want to be the woman God has called ME to be, not the woman He's called someone else to be. I want to follow His will for MY life, not what someone else says I should be.

That's not to say other women aren't to be emulated. As a matter of fact, if they're following the principle of "imitate me as I imitate Christ" then they are certainly great roll models to look to. But I have found that rather than jumping on the wagon of another woman's passion and calling, I am most satisfied in Him, when I use the gifts and talents that He's given me to honor and glorify Him.

I don't need to be a Super-woman. I don't need to do it all. I just need to be the woman God has designed me to be; the woman He has called me to be! And when I get my focus back on Him and the truths that I know, He begins to reveal to me little by little what that woman looks like.