Pinterest Ladies, I DO Get You. Hell, I AM One Of You.

Forgive me, but I don't understand the merit.

 Okay. I have some new thoughts after my last post. Well, they're not really new..not for me and not for most people.
Truth is, I feel a teensy bit bad for my Pinterest mockery. And a wee bit hypocritical, because as the post title suggests, I'm just as Pinterest guilty as the rest of em.
 Although pictures like the one above still make me shake my head in quiet wonder while exhaling the word, "Whyyyyy?", there is something I can say with certainty: some mom out there really loves her child.
If there's one thing we women are good at, it's creating beauty in the world. While that beauty is not simply ( thank God) limited to the occasional dead cat in a bento box, we still have a way of making something out of nothing.
Proof:

BEFORE

And:

A woman did this. YESSSSSSSSS.

                                       
This past Mother's Day, our parish priest said something that I thought was really funny and true. He was talking about the nurturing abilities of a woman, even in the way of simply making a place look more livable.
"You know when you were off at college, guys? And you were living in your dorm room with just your bed and a couple of plastic crates? Your mom came to visit, took one look at your room and said, 'Oh no, this won't do. Let's fix this place up a little!' and she got ya some nice new sheets and stuff. Or maybe you already had a place and you and your girlfriend were dating, so after you you got married she moved in and changed the place. You had a blanket over the window, and she took it down, put up curtains and made the place a home".
 Father Rick knows what's up. A woman can make this world a brighter place.
Now, you may not feel inspired by all of the efforts that other women make to add beauty to this world. Like I said, I don't get the lunch cat. I personally dislike most cats and associate them with the devil, so it's hard for me to look at the bento box up there and not feel completely perplexed.( I will, however, valiantly refrain from any jokes about the irony of a cat replica lying motionless within an asian inspired lunch box.) But I can see the effort, which, although the intention is not completely clear to me, I'm guessing was to bring joy to a child's heart.
And that's a beautiful thing. In theory, anyway.
I am a big believer in creating a beautiful home, not simply to have a beautiful home, but to create a space where my family can feel at peace and cared for.It's a way to build up a culture of life in a world that is beautiful yet broken. It has definitely taken me a loooong time to even get close to what I could honestly call beautiful, and I am finally heading in a good direction. And many of the decor successes in my home? They came from Pinterest. I now receive kind compliments instead of nervous glances in which guests are clearly trying to familiarize themselves with all available exits.
I have a long history of trying and failing and trying and succeeding at creating beauty in my home. There was the time when I had my first apartment, and I tried to create a border around the livingroom wall of handpainted birdhouses...and the poles were made of popsicle sticks.God only knows why the hell I did that. Even typing this truth makes me want to walk away and quietly die. And yet it is the truth. I assure you, the only one who considered that border to be beautiful was me. And not for long, either.
I also remember, all too clearly, the time I showed my brother in law and his wife a handstitched fabric picture I made of an owl and a fox. In hindsight, the fabric I used was truly dreadful. Just depressing, really.Yet somehow, I was so embarrassingly proud of the thing that I almost had tears streaming down my face while holding it up as if I were presenting  something from straight out of  an art gallery. See,for me, that little square of fabric represented creative thought, a bit of labor, and sheer outlandish love for my children. But for my extended family? Well, they probably thought I was right on the cusp of a serious nervous breakdown. You could see the fear in their eyes.They were really classy about the whole thing, nodding politely, my brother in law offering a weak smile, but I could tell they needed cold beer after that.
But back to the whole Pinteresty Decorating thing.
" I hate decorating and cooking and cleaning and all that Martha Stewart stuff!" you may say.
Well, many of us do. So what? Can you hug people? Can you smile at them?  Listening to people, your husband, your children,giving a kind response,encouraging others, making a meal for someone, inviting them over, praying for them, making someone feel welcome, sending them a card. All ways for us to add some beauty to the world. But it starts at home. It starts in our hearts.

Apparently, this is a cake. I have nothing positive to offer here.

They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but there is a beauty that is undoubtedly beautiful. I offer you this quote by Pope JP2. I love it so much because, in it, he points out the qualities a woman possesses that make her truly beautiful and can help her to change the world:

I think of you, dear women, because by your sensitivity, generosity and strength, "you enrich the world's understanding and help to make human relations more honest and authentic." In a special way, God has entrusted children to your care, and thus you are called to become an important support in the life of every person,especially within the context of your family. 

The frenetic pace of modern life can lead to an obscuring or even a loss of what is truly human.Perhaps mre than in other periods of history, our time is in need of "that 'genius' which belongs to women, and which can ensure sensitivity for human beings in every circumstance".

Women of Croatia, conscious of your lofty vocation as "wives" and "mothers", continue to see every person with the eyes of the heart. Continue to reach out to them and stand beside them with the sensitivity born of your maternal instinct. Your presence is indispensable in the family, in society, and in the ecclesial community.

It starts in your own home. It starts in your own  little family. In your own heart. Begin there.