We all recognize that social media is ultimately not healthy for our souls. The constant barrage of news, change of opinions, “new research”, and simply coveting other’s lives just leaves us feeling anxious, defeated, and worthless.
At least this is how I felt for years until I finally deleted Instagram for good. But while I was active on it I started to notice a subtle narrative being portrayed: there is only one way to live life, especially as a Christian woman.
Now, there are opinions on this from all sides but I’m going to focus on the life as a Christian woman because this is the one that I saw the most and found most relatable.
It seemed that overnight woman were promoting these ideas as if they are God’s sure fire word as to how to live this life:
- Be a stay at home mother
- Have lots of children
- Obey your husband
- Don’t work outisde the home (but side hustles are ok?)
- Have a homestead to be self-reliant
- Make all your food from scratch (because you can’t trust the food industry and God gave us all we need)
- Live a life away from modern medicine (because you can’t trust big pharma and God gave us all we need)
- Homeschool your children because you are their best teacher
- Be a Christian woman who studies the Bible daily, prays always (but there’s never anything about loving your neighbor, serving others outside your home, or going to church)
Have you seen this too? I felt like it was everywhere and I wasn’t even following these woman intentionally (especially after many started saying those of my church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, aren’t Christians). Which we can talk about the LDS influencers too, they also make it seem like there’s only one way to live this life.
Now granted, this is stereotyping, but it has to be said that the ideas above are prevalent on social media and have a subtle tone of “I am better than you because I live this way and you don’t”. (If this is all in my head, please feel free to correct me in the comments, nicely).
The truth is that God doesn’t care how you live your life so long as you live it within the boundaries of His commandments and covenants. He gave us all agency in this life so that we can make our own decisions.
I thought that I needed to have a homestead, to make everything from scratch, and that somehow I was worthless in God’s eyes if I used modern medicine even once. But in truth, my personality isn’t cut out for the homestead life and neither is my husband. Sure we want to garden and provide for ourselves but we like our little suburb home in a family friendly neighborhood. I’m also not cut out for making everything from scratch all day long, however I do enjoy baking and cooking. Instead of trying to do it all I’m working to master a few baked goods and recipes that I know are healthy for my family.
I’m also a bit of a nerd. I like the occasional video game, I enjoy reading fantasy books, I want to learn to play DnD and design a cosplay outfit for a RenFaire. This does not fit into the “ideal” life listed above.
Let’s talk about God’s commandments. As long as I live those and make sure the lifestyle I lead isn’t taking precedence over Him, He really doesn’t care. In fact He wants us to all be different, to use our talents to bless the lives of others. How can we bless others if we all live the same way? How can we serve people if we all have the same talents, goals, and resources? We can’t, we simply can not be of use to God if we are all the same.
