A Role Model Situation: being a mom.

When growing up I always look up to my mother for inspiration. Mami didn't know I was looking after every step she did. Well, I thought she didn't, but now I am not that sure. I wanted to be just like her. I can still remember the smell of her perfume. And when I got to be old enough to buy a perfume, I went to the exact same place she bought hers. And to copy Mom is not a bad thing. She's been a guide for me all this years of womanhood and motherhood. My Mom was a really good Mom! I remember my brother's words at Mami's funeral. He said: "You have a really good role model to follow". And he didn't even realize she was my role model ever since I can remember. 

Mom wasn't perfect. In fact, she had many defects. And so do I. Sometimes I find myself working really hard in everything I do. I demand things to be done the best way possible. And as I ask others, I ask myself. This feeling of perfectness makes us pressure things and expect more from others. We want things right... and perfect. My mind runs to what else can I do to better o level up anything. Being the best mom, the best wife, the best professional, the best friend, you name it. 

So I think that wanting to look like a person we admire the most, in my case my Mom, unfocused us from the real target. We get used to want to be great and perfect. We want others to be dazzle by us and what we do. We want to be how we idealize that role model. Sometimes is a friend, a coworker, a celebrity, a member of our family, a teacher, and nowadays an influencer. 

Social media caught people's attention into desiring to live a colorful, adventure, fun, stress-free life. Our perception flies with images of perfectness in a couple's relationship or marriages, beautiful clothes, scrumptious food and recipes, appealing trips, and everything is more interesting than our own lives. And we tend to copy or replicate what we see and how we think. Forgetting what social media is about: projecting an image to others of what I wish things would be. People choose, pick, filter or curate pictures to make them look beautiful. These models cover up their intentions and realness into something socially acceptable and appealing.

I think it's important to have a role model. As a matter of fact, modeling is a way of learning. It's called Observational Learning. We pay attention to the behavior and reproduce it. That's how we learn to socialize and survive. So the problem is when we follow, in the most strict sense, and shape our lives by the wrong guide. 

We really need to be careful with what we watch, hear, pay attention to, because sometimes not realizing this, you feel disappointed and frustrated with your own life and surroundings. Watching others might inspire you to be better or ungrateful with what the Lord has done with you. So make sure you follow and look for the right inspiration. 

Wanting to be like the idealization of my mom made me, in some point of my life, react and be inflexible in certain decisions where I should have been flexible and let my own life flow. Truth is I want to inspire, influence, and encourage my own daughter and son, and it will happen naturally. But I want them to see in me, Jesus life. I want them to know the Lord by my actions. I want them to know "how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is." Eph. 3:18

So the other day, I said to my daughter to please stop running and jumping around in an area filled with rocks and debris from an outdoor construction. I had to called her attention a couple of times. Then, she fell and had a small cut in her right knee. I was so upset that I turned away my head and said I was not going to care for her little scraped knee. Then I felt the Holy Spirit pointing out to me the many, many times I have done what I wanted not following the Word of God and when consequences came, He picked me up, carried me and cleaned my wounds with such love. So why would I be upset? 

So this is what I mean. I want to follow Him. If we want to look up for a model, look up to Jesus. If we want to replicate someone, replicate Jesus. Let's try our best in showing others what His love is about, starting with our own family. 

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame." Heb 12:1-2

And this is exactly what Mami did until the end of her life on Earth. And this is exactly what I want to do. Follow Jesus. Get to know Him. He is real. Looking for inspiration? Look at His life. And look for people who inspires you to be more like Him.