Guilt

Our Lady of the Kitchen Table: Free-Floating Female Guilt

A friend suggested I re-post this segment on it's own. Here 'tis!

Sometimes we feel guilty when we hear about something another woman is achieving or doing. Check the heart. There are two things that could be going on:

1. It is possible that my guilt is not legitimate. I feel guilty, but I shouldn't. I have made a wise choice that reflects thought, prayer, my husband's counsel, and Godly priorities. I need to move on and stop seeing myself as a faded carbon copy of other women, made to do all the same things but not as well.

2. It is possible I feel guilty and that guilt is legitimate, not necessarily because my decision is wrong, but because I have not thought out my decision carefully, and I know it deep down inside. Maybe I made a decision based on haste, selfishness, fear, or because it is "what everyone else is doing."

If you feel confronted suddenly by guilt when another woman mentions something she is doing that is effective (eg: schedule-feeding her baby, mowing her own lawn in diagonals, making her own clothes, serving as a room mother, putting down new shelf paper, home schooling, leading a Bible Study, clipping and using coupons, running 8 miles a day, using wheat germ and olive oil...whatever), take some time to re-think your decisions with an open heart and an open Bible. You may be led to the same conclusions as before, but you will have much more peace and confidence about those decisions if you are sure your decision has been made thoughtfully, with an open mind, an open Word, and your priorities and your husband's in mind.