Peer Pressure

Peer pressure isn't just something that affects children, its rampant with adults both young and old. We tend to think of peer pressure as something we need to prepare young children and teens for, but let the subject die after those stages. I suspect if we thought about it for our young married children, or even ourselves, we would see it is something that pushes and tugs at us throughout our lives. We can cave into the pressure of others telling us to buy this or buy that. We might hear words like, "You need to get one too". Maybe its peer pressure that pushes us to buy that bigger house, the one we can't really afford, or that new car we just simply don't need. Maybe we are prompted to organize our homes a certain way or adopt a life style just because our friends live that way and tell us, "its the only way to live".
Peer pressure can even influence the way we live morally and spiritually. Its not always easy to live to your own conscience, march to the drum beat in your own ear. We live in a world where we are bombarded by what other people do, and made to feel a bit insignificant if we live less than what we are see in the glossy magazines, television commercials, store displays, neighbors homes, favorite blogs and even in sweet story books. Not long ago someone was talking about someone they know and how they have so much for such a young age. They have a big house, fancy cars, nice things, good job etc and it made this person talking to me feel less accomplished, a bit of a failure since they didn't have all this stuff. Come to find out, the person with all the stuff, has it all on credit and is drowning under the weight of it all. So do they really have it all ? The reality is that they are teetering on a slippery slope of loosing it all.
And we all know that the best Hallmark movies are the ones where people finally realize that its never the things we own that make us happy, its love.
Think about yourself, your young adult children if you have them, think about the young couple next door, is it peer pressure that is the major influence to purchases and lifestyle ? Is it time to have that peer pressure chat with yourself ? Live strong. Live according to the path you are meant to be on, strive for advancement, first in your spiritual life but in other ways too, always for the right reason, to fulfill your purpose in life, never feel pressured by another to live as they live.