Very exciting and beautiful things have been happening in my life: but I haven’t been able to fully experience them. Instead, I am keeping myself busy inside my own head. I haven’t been able to actually look around myself and realize how blessed that I am!
Instead, I have been trapped in the life long game -the comparison game.
The number of players = unlimited.
The rules = take one thing and compare it to another.
The winner = no one.
The rules are simple and since everyone can play, you ask yourself, why not join in? Or at least those are my thoughts.
Oh, the comparison game. It’s been a part of our culture for ages (yes, even before social media). You can find it right in the Bible - how many times does Martha compare herself to her sister? It’s a game most people take part in, but never like to admit they are a player. I knew it took me a while to admit it to myself.
The lies that I feed myself through comparing my life to others is dangerous.
“The lives I see on Instagram seems way more interesting than my own”
“The people I walk past on the street are more beautiful than me”
“My friends like these people more than me”
“There talents are better than mine”
THAN...THAN...THAN…
We let ourselves get so focused on others that we don’t even think to sit back and focus on what we are doing - on how our actions could hurt those around us, or how our thoughts are tainting our opinion of others.
Making comparisons makes you feel discontent in every way. Whether you come on top or feel like you were given the short end of the stick, we feel dissatisfied. These feelings stay with us and either make our pride swell or our hearts full of jealousy.
BUT there’s this amazing thing I’ve been learning about that helps us overcome this game -
Gratitude
It’s pretty simple when we break it down (but that doesn’t mean it’s easy). Reminding ourselves to focus on gratitude can be hard, but it is the necessary mindset to have when we want to live a life like Jesus.
Gratitude is the readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness. The exact opposite feelings we feel when we live in a world of comparisons. Blessings are gifts that God has given us. These gifts are different for everyone! Meaning that we are not supposed to all look the same and the differences we are noticing amongst each other are natural! All because the gifts that God has blessed us with are given to us specifically. Romans 12:6 states, “We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us”. Which means that we all excel at different things.
When we look at our lives, how many blessings have you been given? Blessings come in all different sizes!
Instead of looking at others and comparing them, I have been trying to refocus my life on God and the blessings he has blessed me with. Some blessings I have found in my life recently are; meeting Christians from all around the world, discovering new places to study for a degree that I love and getting the opportunity to talk to those who I love. I am not sharing these to brag about my blessings, but instead, to help you discover the things you take for granted - the blessings that we forget we have been given.
When we focus on gratitude, we shift our minds to be humble (not jealous and prideful). Once we get into this humble mindset, we are able to use those gifts that God has handpicked for us and be able to enjoy the wonderful blessings God has placed in our lives!
We no longer are participating in the comparison game, instead, we are learning about our blessings and playing with kindness
“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” - James 1:17
Comments