Mom Guilt
Mom Guilt is a podcast that addresses the guilt that every mom feels throughout the week. It's a conversation between two friends about parenting and living burdened-free lives that can only come through the gospel.
Mom Guilt
Mom Guilt: Bento Box Blunder
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Hey, before we get started, I'm one of the co-hosts, and my name is Elizabeth. As you're listening to this episode, I want to ask you to think of another mom who might need to hear some encouragement in the midst of mob guilt. So if you find this episode helpful, please share it with her. All right, let's jump into this week's episode. When our children ask for sugary food, we can just say Proverbs.
SPEAKER_01Proverbs 25, 16 says, if I give it to you, you shall vomit. So we are just two friends who are here to talk to you about Mom Guilt because we've lived it, but also to not just talk about Mom Guilt, but to help find the freedom that we have found through the cop. And we know how real Mom Guilt has been because we're both moms together. We've got seven kids. We're we're guiltying our way through life right now. So this is real, it's live, this is what we're living. Hello, I am Stephanie, and the last time that I felt mom guilt was actually earlier this week when I was trying to get a workout in, and I told my four kids, okay, I'm gonna go down and I'm gonna work out. Nobody bother me. You can do whatever you want as long as it's safe. I will see you in a little bit. And I come back up from my workout, and my youngest had gotten into the snack drawer and had a huge, like Sam's Club size bag of chocolate chips that was like seriously a quarter of the way emptied. It was brand new and he had chocolate all over his face. So I knew exactly what one did it. But I felt so guilty and like, oh, I told him that, and now he's got all the sugar, and this is all my fault.
SPEAKER_02I've been there so many times. You're like, can I just get 30 minutes, please? Yes, I do everything for you. Alding, give me half an hour. Oh man. Well, hey everyone, I'm Elizabeth. And the last time that I felt mom guilt was actually the other day my husband graduated with his master's degree, so it was awesome. And we were at his graduation ceremony, and my youngest, who's one, she sees him walk in and she goes, Daddy, which it was so sweet, right? At first, everybody in there in the auditorium went, aww. And then she did not stop. She seriously worked once and it was cute. I'm gonna do it again and again again. She is so stubborn and she just kept yelling, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, and I start to turn B red. And I felt I felt like just guilty that my child is a child screaming at the graduation so many. So I had to take her out and come back in. But yeah, it's it's okay. Well, just laugh. She loves him.
SPEAKER_01Yes, that's the takeaway. She loves her dad. Exactly. She was proud of him. Exactly. Well, we are just two friends that are here to talk about mom guilt and the freedom that we have found through the gospel. And we know how real mom guilt is because I have four kids, Elizabeth has three kids, we've lived it, we've been there, and we just want to let you guys in as listeners onto our conversations of how we deal with it and how we fight those guilty lies with truth. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02And today I think we're talking about Stephanie, first year experience. And I love the name that you have for it.
SPEAKER_01So all right, let's see if I can do it without messing it up. The Bento Box Blunder. I love it. Yes. So we had thought about this because the other day I was volunteering in our church's nursery and it was a longer time. It was during the Bible study time for some of the moms at our church. And so we were all supposed to bring snacks for the kids because they were there for like almost two hours. So I was pulling all of these snack boxes out for all these other kids, and there's like these super cute bento boxes, which listen, if you have never heard of bento box, congratulations, because that means you're probably not on like Pinterest or social media. Yes. Um, but if you don't know what they are, there's these like boxes that are usually plastic or some other material that has like different compartments in it. And like bright colors, right? Yes, bright colors, compartments, and there's like all of this stuff on Pinterest of how you can make it healthy and cute and all these things. So I'm pulling out these boxes for these other kids. I'm like, wow, these are like awesome snacks. They're super cute. And I get to my son's backpack and I pull out a Pop Tart and granola bar. Just three in the backpack. Yeah, no, no, the Pop Tarts were smashed. It was a rough morning. He got what he got. I got a snack. I was like, okay, box tracked, let's move on. So I felt really guilty in that moment, though. That was really hard.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I'm so sorry that that happened and you felt that way. I've done that so many times, and I can relate to that so much. And actually, I'm so happy we're talking about this this week because this has been very real for me this week. Um, my oldest is in public school, and so we have to pack like two snacks a day. Um, and he has come home multiple time and multiple times this week and has said to me, Mom, my other friends have these cool snacks with this on it. Um, you know, like the character fruit snacks or like the Scooby-Doo graham cracker things. And he said, Why don't I have that? I want that. And other times he said, My kid, like other kids bring more snacks. They bring four snacks a week. And honestly, I felt a lot of guilt over this this week. Um I felt just like I was feeling some way.
SPEAKER_01Which you weren't in that moment. I can just, as a friend, tell you, if you don't pack the cute fruit snacks and all of the neighboring stuff, you're still a good mom.
SPEAKER_02I I know that logically, but in the moment I feel like like I'm so sorry, buddy. Like, I can't give you what other people give their children, and it pains me that he sees that, that he feels like an outsider because of it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, my kid in that moment, like they didn't care. He was two, like he wasn't looking at what everybody else had. He was actually probably like happier with this Pop Dorian granola bar than the kid next to him that had carrot sticks. Um, but that's but that's a different aspect of it. So like I was feeling it as a mom with my kid not acknowledging it, and then you're having your child see it at school and then come back and talk to you about it. Exactly. Like I wasn't there.
SPEAKER_02I don't I don't know the other moms. I don't know what the teacher was thinking. I just know what my child is saying. So yeah, it's like very reversed are two experiences where you have the other moms or the other snacks or the volunteer, not the moms, the volunteer workers there. Um, but mine was at home where yours was in in public. Yeah, and it's interesting that yours is like, oh, I'm not packing this healthy snack. And mine is like, oh no, my kid wants more of the fun, sugary snacks that every kid loves. So it's very interesting how the the mom guilt stemmed from two very different situations. But all with food. Yeah, all around snack time. So, Stephanie, after talking about that and sharing my story, what were you thinking and feeling when that happened to you?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so I think I had a lot of different thoughts kind of running through all at super fast speeds that I wasn't even analyzing in the moment what I was feeling and why I was feeling. I just knew I didn't like how I felt in that moment. But on talking with you and kind of reflecting on that, I felt really guilty because I didn't give my kid a cute bento box, right? So there's that. I felt embarrassed that I threw something together last minute when all of these other moms clearly put a lot more thought and effort into their child's snack, which sometimes translates in my head, like, oh, they they must love their child. Like they're a better mom. Yeah, or they're a better mom than I am to my child. So I felt that the standard I was really immediately falling short of that. I felt embarrassed because it happened in front of these other workers that were there with me. And I mean, in hindsight, I guarantee you, because I know the women that I was working with, they were not looking at me and the snack that I just gave my kid, thinking, wow, she's a bad mom because look at what she did. Like that was not their heart at all. But I put that like they were saying that to me. So I like made up this whole conversation in my head that never happened that wouldn't have been fair, that they never would have told me and put it like they're saying it to me. So I I felt really bad. I felt yucky, I felt judged, even though they clearly were not judging me. It was more me judging myself. Yeah, but those feelings were still very real that you were wrestling with. Yeah. And then if I really want to get vulnerable here a second, I my pride was hurt because in those moments, I really want to be the mom that looks like she has it all together, that has all of this time that can do all of these things for my kid. And I want people, oh, this feels so yucky to say, I wanted people to look at me and say, I want to be a mom like Stephanie.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you know, I'm so glad that you are being vulnerable in that because how many times have I felt that where it's actually nothing to do with my child, more to do with me?
SPEAKER_01It absolutely was a heart posture that I had at that moment that I cringe away from and and don't even like admitting that that was there, but that was probably mostly part of it is I wanted people to say, wow, Steph's got it all together. And in that moment with that snack, people weren't saying that. And that really was hard.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Thank you for sharing that because sometimes I think we feel those things, and yet no one talks about it. And yet I've done that same thing. Um, and so it's actually comforting to hear, okay, I'm not the only mom who has felt that same pride.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So that's kind of what was going through through my head when I had that. What if I can ask you? I'm gonna turn it. What was going through your mind when your son came to you with that?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So initially, um, maybe the first time he said something, I just brushed it off. The second time though, I instantly felt like this pit in my stomach. And I'm all of a sudden going through my head, like, can I fit this in? How can I fit this into a grocery budget? Um, trying to see if it could happen, if I could make it happen for him, because sweat mom doesn't want to make their child happy and make them feel included. And after going through the grocery budget and all of that stuff, I just realized, you know, but that's not a reality. I can't spend this much money on snacks every week. Um, and so then I felt ashamed like I was failing. Like I was like I couldn't give my child the same things that other children have. Um, and I think we've all experienced that. I mean I know I have in some aspect, you know, we've I've been on his end in some at times where I didn't have what other children had. And so it hurt my heart, and I felt like a failure as a mom. It was just really it's hard. It's really hard.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you're not a failure because you don't provide your kids with certain snacks. I know you and I know you love your kids.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I do. I do love him. And ultimately, I I'll keep telling him I love him. And so it's just it's just hard. And I don't know. I I think that's why I'm just so happy we're talking about this because I'm not on the other side of it yet. I'm in it. I'm still living it too. Yeah, so as I'm in this season of really wrestling with it this week, can I ask you why do you think there's so much guilt around food for our kids in snack time?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think a couple of reasons food, like we need food to live, right? So it's not like this obscure thing that happens every once in a while. It's like multiple times a day. And we have little kids, it feels like it's 10 billion times a day that they're asking for food. So this is something that like keeps on happening. It's not like going away, like you need food to live. So it kind of makes sense that we'd feel guilty about this because that's just the way the devil works, right? He like uses these opportunities and why not food? Because then you can make somebody feel guilty at least five times a day, you know, with your three meals and your snacks and stuff. So I think there's that, but I think there's also sometimes this unspoken, or really, I guess sometimes it's super in your face with marketing from social media on what you feed your kids and how you do that, right? Because the I the ideal commercial or the marketing advertising plays on your emotions. Have you seen that? Like now that you say that, it's like when you see the mom give the snack to their kids, their kids aren't like, ugh, I don't like the snack mom. I want something better. Like they're trying to sell you this product, and so their kids are like, Mom, with like smiles running in from outside, giving you a hug.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and that's why they pick their favorite characters, like PJ Masks or Bluey or whatever for the fruit snack or the cookie.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So I think marketing has actually done a really good job on making you feel guilty if you don't buy their product, you're not a good mom. And they're playing on our emotions when they do that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And you mentioned social media, which I'm really glad that you did, because sometimes it's not necessarily even marketing, but you just see other moms like post pictures of their toddler snack or meal. And then I look over at my child's meal and it's like peanut butter and jelly and cheese balls. Like, and there's there's that comparison in it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think social media is actually this thing that as we've lived in this more and more. I mean, think about how it was for generations before us. You had your really close friends that you would get together with, and they're gonna be the moms that you're gonna kind of compare yourself to, which isn't great. Like that's not the standard of what we should compare. But now we've got social media where we've got thousands and millions of other moms that we have no idea who they are, but we're feeling this standard that we have to live up to, to this invisible faceless thing that now we feel guilty if we fall short of.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, exactly. And even further, sometimes, you know, it comes from going to doctor's visits. Yes. Or, you know, we think of the food pyramid. Oh, the food pyramid that was taught to me in grade school. Yeah, I remember it plastered on every wall. Um, and you know, the pediatrician talks about all the food groups and feeding your children healthy options.
SPEAKER_01Right. So, I mean, I guess we've kind of talked about some negative things, but there's actually really good reasons of why we should feed our kids healthy foods, right? Like healthy foods are actually designed by God to give you nutrition and energy that your body needs. So I think we can't just walk away saying, oh, what my kid eats doesn't matter. No. Like we have to use judgment and wisdom and discernment on how we feed our kids. But I think sometimes, especially like in our diet culture these days, it's like if you give any sugar, that's bad and you're horrible. Which is like a weird form of legalism. Yeah, it is.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And it's just so interesting because honestly, you hear it talked about. It's really a balance.
SPEAKER_01Yes. So when my youngest was a baby and going into the pediatric appointments, they would ask me, like, how many fruits and vegetables is she getting? And I'd have to put the answer down, how many grains, how many dairy products? And I would have to answer those yes, to the point where I actually, because she was my first, I wanted to do everything perfect by the book, which I still like to do things nicely, but this is just my personality and you know me in this. But I actually made this like tracker that had all of the different food groups. And then as she would get one, I would cross it off. So that way every day, every day I would look at it and I could check it off. And so at the end of the day, if she had all of them, I'd be like, hey, look at this. I'm a great mom. She got all of her stuff. And then on the days that I didn't get all of the food groups in, I would feel horrible at the end of the day because it was like this grading scale of I'm a good mom if all of the boxes are checked, and I'm a bad mom if some of them are left empty.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's like going back to that legalism, which that became the bar for you. Yes, it did. That you had to meet. Yes. And when you couldn't meet it, you know, you were in despair. And I can relate to that when my oldest was a baby, which I feel like is you know, I struggled with I still struggle with pride, but I struggled with pride the most with my oldest. You know, I used to not give him grapes because it had too much sugar in it. And I felt like, oh, I'm gonna be a good mom and I'm not gonna give my child any sugar to the point where I was excluding fruits. And I had so much pride. And I would look at other moms who did feed their kids sugar and be like, wow, they aren't as good a mom as me. And so you're kind of saying the days that you would meet that, you would have pride in boast. Yes.
SPEAKER_01And the days that you didn't, you felt in despair. Yes, pride and despair. Absolutely. I can resonate with that. And I think so, what I actually find really interesting is what has changed from my oldest. She's now almost eight, and my youngest is almost three. The food pyramid actually is very different than it did in those uh what I can't do math in those like five years between the two. It's not that long a time. No, they've actually changed it because I wanted to look like, okay, in preparing for this podcast, what does the CDC actually say our kids should get now? Because I wanted to know that. And they didn't give a number. They actually said children should eat a variety of all the different types of food groups. And if it's balanced, you're good.
SPEAKER_02That makes sense. I mean, that's actually so much more freeing. It is than what I feel like I was told with my first.
SPEAKER_01Yes. Yeah. The idea of like, okay, it's a balanced diet was it. I wish I would have had that for my first because I think it would have protected me from a lot of heartache. Or maybe it wouldn't, because I would have just found something else to obsess over. Um, but that was actually really freeing when I realized that. Yeah, that's so good.
SPEAKER_02And so that's what the CDC says. So, Stephanie, does the Bible tell us what to feed our children or what snacks are the best?
SPEAKER_01Well, it's funny you should ask because yes, actually it does. It is the 11th commandment. Oh, yeah. That was. And I looked it up and it said, Thou shalt feed thy child organic fruits and vegetables placed in bento boxes in the form of their favorite characters. Do you not read your Bible, Elizabeth?
SPEAKER_02I must have missed that one.
SPEAKER_01I am such a bad Christian. Okay, no, okay, that's not in the Bible, guys.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no, no.
SPEAKER_01Okay, um, but seriously, there actually are some verses that are gonna talk about some specific food choices. Um, so some of these are actually in the Old Testament. And what immediately might come to mind for you is actually the dietary laws that the Israelites had. So, in the law, Moses gave them from the Lord, like these are some foods that you should eat and foods that you shouldn't. Right? He's listing like the clean and unclean animals. Yes. Yeah. So I think so. The Bible does actually talk about what foods you should and shouldn't eat. However, I'm gonna give a caveat to that, um, that those were under something we call the old covenant. So the old covenant really its job is to show God's people how to live, but it's ultimately pointing towards Christ. We had thought and looked up um Proverbs 25, verse 16, which says, if you have found honey, eat only enough for you, lest you have your fill of it and vomit it. Okay, so it's what do we want on our walls, right?
SPEAKER_02So we can when our children ask for sugary food, we can just say, Proverbs. Proverbs 25, 16 says, if I give it to you, you shall vomit. We've talked about this, you know, that this is wisdom literature, right? It's not the law. Right.
SPEAKER_01But it is good wisdom. Yes. Too much of anything, even if it is a good thing, can be bad for you, right? I think that's kind of what that's getting at. If there's honey, there's nothing wrong with that sugar. Just make sure you have it in moderation. Honey is not bad. It's general wisdom, because how many of us have eaten too much of our children's Halloween candy?
SPEAKER_02Sometimes you gotta learn the hard way.
SPEAKER_01Yes, yes. So speaking specifically of the dietary laws, which were, Acts 10 talks about Peter having this vision of he is going to sleep, and in a trance, he sees this sheet filled with all of these animals that were considered unclean. And it's basically God saying, Peter, you can eat these. And it's so interesting because his response is like, No, I won't eat those. It's it's like that legalism, right? And so God like does it more times. He's like, No, you're not getting this. Like, this is what I'm saying is now okay for you. And in this, he's actually pointing to the reality that eating food or not eating food is pointing to the Israelites' cleanliness. And now that Christ came, you can't purify yourself enough to get into heaven. Jesus Christ is the only one that can purify us of our sins, and so we can spend eternity with God.
SPEAKER_02Oh, so it's nothing you can do. Now if you can't can or cannot eat all the right foods, right? Are you gonna be pure?
SPEAKER_01Right. Which I think sometimes, like, okay, so taking that in yours in my context of what we're struggling with, I saw that in my heart too of like I can give my kids this and I can't give myself or my kids this food because I want to be at this standard. And really, that's the same heart that Peter had in this verse.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and so it's going back to kind of what we were talking about the pride.
SPEAKER_01Yes, right?
SPEAKER_02The two ways that you can really stumble in this area is feeling pride, like me with the grapes. Like, look at me. I am doing everything right. I am the good mom by the bar that we put in place. And then the other side is despair. Like, oh man, I am not meeting like meeting that bar, reaching that goal. Um, I am failing in where am I left? Now. And so, listeners, you're typically gonna be in one of those two stumbling blocks as we've described. I've been in both at different seasons. Right now I'm in the despair side, but early on in my child's life, I was in the pride side. Um, and we can be a mixture at different ages, different hours of the day. It was in the same day, exactly. Um, so Stephanie, where do we go from here?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So I think some of the other verses that you and I had talked about really get to the heart. And specifically for me, it was the pride, right? So for me, I wanted um people to look at me and say, wow, Steph's got it all together. She's a great mom, right? So my sin in that moment was not what was in my kids' bento box or lack thereof. It was actually my heart. Yeah. And there's this idea. So 1 Corinthians 6, 19 and 20 says, Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, but you were bought with a price. So glorify God with your body. Now, in this verse, it's actually talking about sexual immorality and how we shouldn't do that. But I think this still applies to the type of food that we feed our bodies as well as our kids' bodies, right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, exactly. So whether you are the mom who genuinely loves to make everything from scratch, feed their do it. Yes, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_01Lean into that if that's like your thing.
SPEAKER_02Exactly. Or maybe you're kind of like us who, you know, sometimes it isn't bad. Um sometimes it's pop chops and canola bar. Cheese balls. And yeah, exactly. Do it all for the glory of God.
SPEAKER_01Not that you can boast, um, but that you can boast in Christ. Right. And later in 1 Corinthians um 10, 31, it specifically says, so whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it for the glory of God. And that verse is so convicting because in that moment I was trying to give my snack for the glory of Stephanie. I was gonna not for the glory of God.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, exactly. You wanted people to look to you and be almost like the God. Yeah. Oh, it's horrible. I don't really want that, but in that moment, my sinful nature, yeah, you did. Exactly. Like initially, I think that's not what I thought. Of course not. Like, but then when we get to the root of it, which is why I think it's so important when we're feeling mom guilt, mom guilt, to get to the root of why we feel this way. Yes. Because if we hadn't taken the time to talk about this, um, we may have overlooked that, and then the pride in our hearts would never be revealed. Right. Yeah. Okay. So now we know this biblical truth. We know that whatever we feed our children, we should do for the glory of God. But yeah, I still feel like I'm letting myself down, I'm letting my child down. And what do I do with that feeling?
SPEAKER_01So I think in those moments, we really have to do a heart check, right? Like, what are your motives? Like, why do you think you're feeling that way? What's going around in your head, which you and I have kind of hashed out a little bit on this podcast, right? So, you as a listener, when you're feeling this and you don't have somebody that can sit across the table like Elizabeth and I are doing right now to really talk through this, kind of ask yourself your heart check. Ask you, ask yourself, are you feeding your children to the glory of God? You know, why do you feel this guilt? And are you feeding your kids food, thanking God for the nutrition that he has given or um that he has provided for your family? Because I think sometimes we can miss that, right? There's this idea that I was reading in a book, um, it was Courtney Ressig, it was glory in the ordinary. And she was explaining how in the ordinary things like feeding your kids snacks and vacuuming the house, like, how do you do those to the glory of God? Because that's like a Christian thing that sometimes you can throw around, but like, what does that actually mean? And one of the things that she said, which I thought was just so life-giving and beautiful, was thinking, how am I representing God to my children? When you're giving your kids a snack, how are you representing the Lord to them? And I think in those moments when we're providing snacks, no matter what they are, we can do so with a heart posture of pride, going, oh, look at how great I am. I'm providing for my kids or I'm doing all of these right things. Or we can do it with a heart posture of, you know what? I love my kids and I want to give them the nutrition and the food that they need, just like our heavenly father provides for us.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So you're you talk about God being our ultimate provider. And, you know, as I'm wrestling with this feeling of despair, am I not providing for my children by not getting them the fun snacks? Am I being a bad reflection of who God is?
SPEAKER_01No, I don't think you are at all. I think the marketing and the advertisers want to you to think that way. But I would actually argue that in withholding something that everybody else has for your kid in those moments, you're actually providing something far greater than a cute little like Scooby-Doo graham cracker snack. Because what you're actually doing is you're instilling in your kids that we're a Christian. And so our lives are gonna look differently than non-Christians. And that's actually the way it's supposed to be. That's the way the Bible says it should be. It says that we're aliens and strangers in this world, and so we shouldn't blend in. And so you're actually in those moments providing spiritually for your child by teaching them that when you look around and everybody else seems to have something that you don't, that's okay.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, thank you for saying that because it's this tension. God has called me to be a good steward of what he's given us. And I'm trying to do that with our grocery budget. Um, and so I'm trying to honor God in that. But of course, I want to love my child and make him happy. Um, and I don't know, I I I see this in my child and I see a part of myself. I don't know if that makes sense. There's times that people have things that I don't have. Um and maybe that's an opportunity where I can spiritually feed my child.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, because really, I mean, if I can interrupt a second, really, I mean, uh in his little heart, there could be some coveting going on in there, right?
SPEAKER_02And he's not content with what the Lord has given him. And how many times do I do that? And so we feel that as moms all the time. Exactly. When you see moms with the newest baby gear or the prettiest nursery, and so maybe that's an opportunity to preach to him. Yeah, to and say, I struggle with this too. Be humble in it and try and give him the resources early on that when you're struggling with this sin, repent and turn to God. God is what makes us content. We are content in him, not in our circumstances or what snacks we have. So it's really convicting and also just kind of bring. I don't know if that's the right word. Like you're saying, do it all for the glory of God, not to my glory. Right.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01So, listeners, we're actually gonna like pause this conversation a second and we're gonna introduce this new segment that we don't have a name for it yet. So if you guys can think of this awesome name, like message us and send it in. Someone more creative. Right now, it's going to be Elizabeth and Stephanie's resources. So, one of the things that I think as moms, you kind of want to talk, or at least I know I have this desire, like, what are you doing? What resources are you using for your kids? What do you love? What do you not love? Like, tell me all of the stuff. Yeah. That's what's kind of for each other. Yes. When we see something really cool, we want to share it. Yes. Absolutely. So that's kind of what our heart is behind this here. So we're gonna actually talk about one resource right now that you and I have both really loved. So there's this resource that we're gonna talk to you guys here about for a little bit. And it is the book called The Garden, The Curtain, and the Cross. And this is actually part of if you listen to our podcast on discipleship, I had talked about this book series called The Tales That Tell Truth. And this is actually one of the first books that came out from that series.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's such a good book. We read it in our house, and the pictures, even for my littler kids, they just love looking at the pictures. Beautiful. Yeah, they really are. They're like a piece of art. And I just really love how this book talks about sin and defines sin.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, because I think that's something that can be kind of ambiguous to our kids and sometimes even us as adults, like, what exactly is sin? And essentially this book says sin is disobeying God. You know, it's saying it in a way that our kids can easily understand. They can wrap their head around.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, where we don't want God to be in control. We want to be in control. Yes. And I just love that. And the book just has so much good biblical theology throughout all of it, which I feel like I learn a lot from. And it's a great reminder for me as a mom.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So it kind of takes your kids and you as a mom reading it through this journey, kind of seeing the big, huge theme of the Bible, specifically through looking at the Garden of Eden, the curtain in the temple, and then the cross that Jesus dies in. So it talks about sin. So it introduces this problem that we all have, and we're like, oh no, what do we do with this? You know, at the very beginning of the book, their theme or their line that they're gonna repeat over and over and over is because of your sin, you can't come in. Which I think is so great because like you can remember that to your kids and hearing that it's gonna be something that's really gonna stick with you. Yeah. So Adam and Eve were sent out of the garden, right? And be they were angels that were placed, and because of your sin, you can't come in. Well, then it talks about the temple.
SPEAKER_02Oh, and and going back to the unclean and clean rituals, right? And just we can't be unclean in the presence of God.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that being with God in his presence is great, but we can't do it. Because of your sin, you can't come in. And there's this curtain that's keeping you from entering into God's presence. And then it introduces Jesus, who then goes to the cross and pays the penalty for our sin. And so this book concludes because of your sin, you can come in. You can come into God's presence. If you trust Jesus as your Lord and your savior and he's the treasure of your life, you can spend eternity with God because of your sin, because Jesus paid for your sin. You now can come into his presence.
SPEAKER_02And God now sees, doesn't see you as a sinner in your sinfulness, but he sees Jesus.
SPEAKER_01Yes, and his righteousness on you. So this book, I mean, we kind of we we love this book if you can't tell. Um, but this book is just so beautifully illustrated. It tells this amazing gospel truth to our kids. And I think we looked it up. So this book is a hardcover if you've got older kids. It's a board book if you've got younger kids. And they actually have this like activity colouring book that can go alongside it too. So whatever you feel like would fit your family best, there's really a great resource in this for you.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and it's been such a blessing to our family. So just by sharing it, we hope that it will just be a blessing to you and maybe just one small way to encourage your children to dive deeper into scripture. So getting back to our original conversation. Um yeah, it's it's okay to not be able to afford all organic fruits and vegetables, or in my case, the name brand trendy snacks. That's okay.
SPEAKER_01That's not sinful. No, it's not at all. So kind of going back to your original question, Elizabeth, of where do we go from here? I think that we get to sit in this reality that we get to find our identity not in what we feed our children, but rather in the gospel, right? Of Jesus dying on the cross. And there's this reality that any time that you and I try to find our identity in something other than that, we're really saying we want Jesus plus.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, exactly. And we almost idolize either ourselves or even good things like food can become an idol. And we're not resting in what Christ did for us.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And I mean, really, in doing that, you're belittling the blood of Jesus on the cross because you're saying, Oh, that's not really good enough for me. I want Jesus' blood plus, I want to feed my children the perfect snack. And that's really what's going to just seal that identity of Jesus plus. And I think this reality actually goes way beyond snack choices of what we're talking about now. But the idea of an identity in Jesus Plus is not ever going to bring you life. It's always going to bring you despair and guilt and death.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So whatever we do, you know, whatever we feed our children, do it all for the glory of God with the right heart posture. We talk about heart posture a lot, you know, not a heart that is prideful and boasting, but also not a heart that is completely in despair, but knowing that Jesus died on the cross for us and is nothing that we do, um, nothing that we feed our children that defines us and makes us a good mom. But Christ was good for us.
SPEAKER_01Amen. Yeah. So, listener, I think as you guys go about your week here doing whatever you need to do today and tomorrow, you guys can praise God because he is our ultimate provider. And we get to be little image bearers of him in feeding our children. And so you guys can go about your day knowing that your identity is found in Christ, not what is in your kid's snack box.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And the next time you're feeding your child a snack, just take a moment to say thank you, Lord, and praise him for it. I know I'll be trying to work on that this week.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. Well, thanks for spending time with us today, listener. We hope you have a good day and we'll see you next time. Bye. And if you have any stories from your life where you are really struggling with mom guilt in any different area, we would love to help and talk about that here on the podcast. So if you have anything that you would like us to talk about, any specific category, you can actually email that question to us at momguiltpodcast at gmail.com. So we can talk about those stories here on the podcast, and you can become unburdened through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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