Swimsuits

Well, the sun is finally shining but the temperature does not say spring yet! It's been a really long winter! I finally took myself to the doctor today and found out I have a sinus infection. Could that be the cause of the headache I've had for the last 6 weeks!? Why do Mommies do that?

It's that time of the year again and there are pastel colors, jelly beans and swimsuits in the stores. I know I wrote about this last year, but it's the problem that never dies! I have been taking the kids swimming every Sunday this year for "Family Swim". It's really a fun way to spend the afternoon especially as winter drags on.

It's really not normal or natural for me to fixate on how I look. Lately, there have been some challenges though. For instance, no time or energy to exercise, lack of time and funds to spend on myself. And then there are people who ask you if you are pregnant when you are not! That happens to me a lot - ok, I realize I still have a baby belly! And I know that some people probably assume that we are just going to have an endless stream of children given our track record.

I was tempted to let all those things keep me out of the pool. Anyway, we went swimming as planned and of course it was fun. I raced Jenna, helped Annie almost jump off the diving board and watched Abby jump in the deep end. When we were getting changed in the locker room, I ran into another Mom I know who told me she wished she was a brave as me to get in the water.

I realized that I don't want to let my worries about my outward appearance keep me from being willing to get in the pool and have fun with my kids. And it's not just with swimsuits, but it's easy to disengage from life when we aren't happy with ourselves.

Come on, we have to get over this! We are more than just a dress size. We are daughters of the King, saved by grace, appointed by God to share his love. I think Satan would be pleased to keep us out of the game based on our self-esteem issues.

I'm not condoning drowning ourselves in ice cream every night (although sometimes that helps me) or never exercising. But who we are on the inside is so much more important than how we look in a swimsuit. Being with our kids and having fun is too great to miss because we aren't happy with ourselves.

I'm not going to let it keep me out of the water!