Barbie

As someone who considers herself a feminist I have a startling confession to make: I like Barbie dolls. As a little girl my best friend, Lee, and I would spend hours a days assembling multiple Barbie houses and cars and offices to make a Barbie neighborhood inhabited my a variety of Barbie and Ken dolls with their ever-changing wardrobes. It became a family affair. My grandfather, instead of making a dollhouse for me, made a fabulous house for Barbie which could be broken down and folded neatly away when not in use. I had a Miss America Barbie for which my uncle made a special four-poster bed (fit for a queen) which he painted gold. My grandmother taught me to sew and some of my first projects were clothes for Barbie. And at my parent's home a huge box with the house, furniture, jacuzzi tub, dolls, clothes and shoes are all still safely tucked away under the bed in my room.

My Barbie-filled past never came up until shortly after the birth of my daughter, when someone dropped off a gift for our newborn, a Barbie dream kitchen. Along with my daughter's blocks and train set we also have multiple Barbie dolls at our home, and a wonderful assortment of clothes, which I brought in my box today. As I shared the blue wedge shoes, the white cropped pants, and the numerous ball gowns in my bag of Barbie clothes, I reminded the children that dressing up Barbie, and managing all her possessions can be fun, but it can also be stressful. Searching for a tiny matching shoe and then getting it on is hard! Luckily, Jesus tells us not to worry about these things. He tells us not to worry about what we will wear, or even about what we will eat or drink, for worrying adds not a single hour to our lives. Instead we should be confident in the fact that God will take care of us. (Matthew 6:25-34)

What are your worries? Are they concerns you would take to God in prayer? I have a good friend who likes to remind me, "Never worry too much about a problem that money can fix", by which she means the real problems are ones we have no control over, the ones that money can't fix.  The next time a worry hits you- ask, is this a Barbie shoe problem? And remember that in all things, Christ is there.