Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Day twenty- eight: Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?... No.

"Comparison is the thief of joy." ~Theodore Roosevelt

Our lives, especially as we get older, are based on comparing ourselves to someone else. Usually, someone older or someone we look up to. For me, although I am sure they do not know it, I have spent the majority of my teenage life comparing myself to my older sisters. For the longest time I thought something was wrong with me because things did not go the same way for me as they did for them. As Roosevelt says, that is the thief of joy. It took me a while to realize it but, I finally stopped comparing and started to just look at myself and what I have to offer. I mean, why should I compare myself to them when God has made each of us in His own image, with a different plan for each of us?  Comparison led me to make the problems worse, not better. If we stop comparing ourselves to others than we won't be disappointed if we don't make it where we think we ought to, and we will feel better about where we are.  It's not just comparing to other people though, it is comparing situations, too. It's hard to let something else happen when the situation has happened before, and the last time it did it did not end well. It makes us very skeptical of the current situation. We need to stop worrying about the past, and just worry about ourselves right now.Every person is different. Every life has its own path, which God made for us. Trust that, and stop trying to figure out how to make yourself like someone else. I know I need that reminder sometimes. Find the joy in your own life instead of trying to duplicate the joy that someone else found.

"Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding." 2 Corinthians 10:12

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