Really simple?

I'm watching one of those little advice shows this morning. (By "watching" I mean it's on as I go about getting breakfast.) It reminds me of all those magazines that come out these days for women and mommies, such as Parents, Parenting, Better Homes and Gardens and, of course, Real Simple, which is the show that's on right now.

I have to be very careful when I'm reading one of these magazines, or watching a similar show. It's so easy to suddenly start believing what they say, or thinking that's the way the world really is. Of course I need $35 stripey tights to go with my daughters $65 sweater and that cute little skirt she'll only wear once. Oh, but isn't everyone's home decorated for the holidays with natural evergreen garlands, stunning floral displays and antique Victorian ornaments from Pottery Barn? Sometimes I have to just get up and throw a magazine away. Why do I read them? Good question. I don't know. For ideas I guess, but for every idea I've found in those pages there were thirty assaults on my Christian sense of priority and my common sense. You think I'd learn.

My problem isn't trying to keep up with the Jones. Around here, we're all pretty similar in our beliefs and income levels. My problem is thinking every now and then that I haven't really "made it" until I'm keeping up with the Penobscots, Harrisons, Kennedys and Winchesters that take their shopping advice from the Williams-Sonoma catalog and Wondertime magazine.