A few interesting internet reads

These are totally random, unrelated articles I clicked on today and thought were interesting reads:

Kids Willing to Fail May Perform Better Academically
This is so important. It was encouraging to read this because I find myself constantly saying this kind of thing to Katie (although it never really seems to "stick"). It was affirming that I am on the right track and, by God's grace, the repetition of this message will eventually make an impact and free her to succeed by failing.  This was also a good reminder to me, as I share in Katie's same struggle with hating failure. As I've recently faced lack of motivation in language study, it was encouraging to be reminded that failure is a crucial part of learning and that I don't need to be making constant exponential progress in order to be learning. 

Jennifer Aniston Spends Almost $400/day on her body
I think it's good for us to hear this.  Too often, we can have unrealistic expectations of ourselves and our appearance and feel a sense of inadequacy for not measuring up.  As is usually the case, this article reminds us that, when we play the comparison game, we rarely have the whole story, whether it's comparing ourselves with "the hottest woman of all time" (whatever that means?!) or with our mom friend whose blog makes us feel perpetually inferior because of her beautiful photos of the healthy, delicious snacks she prepares every day (which she had on her 6-month meal plan, consisting of only foods she purchased with coupons or sale prices).  Bottom line:  You could look like Jennifer Aniston, but it's gonna cost you. You could be the super-mom of your dreams, who is the conglomerate of every awesome mom blog you've ever read....but it's gonna cost you.  You might become the coolest, craftiest mom of all, but at what cost?  Your marriage? Your actual availablity to your kids? Or more likely and more dangerous, at the cost of finding your sole identity and source of satisfaction in the only One who really measures up, the only One who can put to rest our endless striving after personal achievement. 

I want to make it clear that these two articles struck me, not because I've reached a place where embracing failure is easy for me or where I am above the comparison game, but rather because I so deeply and daily struggle with these.  May God use these two secular articles in my/our fight to believe His perspective of our lives over and against our own twisted viewpoints.

*Updated*
Amazing, the timing on Ann Voskamp's post today...fits just perfectly with that first link about being unafraid to fail. 
Favorite quotes: "When we stop fearing failure, we start being artists."
"Don’t let the sun set till you’ve done one thing that sort of scares you."



Also, one more thought about the Jennifer Aniston thing.  Reading that article also just made me feel plain sad. Only complete insecurity can drive someone to spend $400/day on her appearance.  Am I right?  It reminds me of another article I read about Demi Moore a while back (and I promise I do not spend all my time surfing the internet reading about celebrities...these just all happen to be the three articles I have clicked on in the last 3 months!).  In the interview I read, when asked about her greatest fears, she said, "I would say what scares me is that I'm going to ultimately find out at the end of my life that I'm really not lovable, that I'm not worthy of being loved. That there's something fundamentally wrong with me."  I loved her honesty and how she got right down to the bottom of things. Isn't that essentially what we all fear? The reason we feel that way is that the One Relationship in which we were supposed to find that permanent sense of being loved has been broken by our sin. Instead of trusting His love, we have rejected it and set out to secure our own sense of peace and acceptance by our own devices. The problem is, it doesn't work. The good news is that the One we rejected, the One we wronged, was not content to leave us to our own destruction, but rather has done everything necessary, at great cost to Himself, to bring us back. I say all this not in a judgemental way like, "Oh, look how messed up Jennifer Aniston and Demi Moore are! I am so far superior to them because I am x, y, and z."  No, I feel these women are my sisters, my fellow strugglers, and I long for all of us to give in to His love, to let go of our broken cisterns, and to abandon ourselves to the Singing God. (I haven't read that book, but I really want to!)