Comparison

I have been talking to one of my close friends on and off about comparison for the last few months.
Comparison. Its dangerous. Its a thief of joy. Its a thief of friendship. It can isolate you. It can depress you... but for some strange reason we constantly do it to each other. We compare our friends, our husbands, our kids, our houses, our schools, our churches. We compare ourselves. We use it as a measure of success. The trap is that as long as you compare yourself to others, you’ll always feel like you don’t quite measure up.

I was sitting at my friends house feeling quite insecure about my cooking abilities as I watched her dash around her kitchen baking biscuits for the kids, a meal for a family in need, dinner for her own family, making jams and chutneys without a flinch. Her kitchen always has incredible smells coming from it... she goes on to show me her latest craft projects, quilts she has made, paintings she has painted.... I was thinking ... How does she do it!? Where does she find the time?  .... and at times I find myself walking out feeling discouraged that I can't keep up with her momentum in the kitchen. When I made a silly comment out loud, she turned around and said "well your house is clean and organised".  Here we were seeing each others strengths whilst comparing our talents against eachothers. We stopped, with a cuppa in hand, had a heart to heart about how we both need to stop comparing ourselves with everyone around us. Its a weakness we can now keep each other accountable with. We love each other, we admire each other, we now encourage each other in our strengths and help each other in our weaknesses.

One of the greatest secrets of having happiness in your life is learning how to eliminate envy!

“Let everyone be sure to do his very best, for then he will have the personal satisfaction of work done well and won’t need to compare himself with someone else” (Galatians 6:4).

"When they measure themselves with themselves and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding and behave unwisely" (2 Corinthians 10:12).

Its time to stop. You are gifted, you are talented. You are beautiful and you are able to make changes within yourself so you do your best... You have to CHOOSE to stop comparing!

We are apples and oranges. You can not compare one to the other. 

Life has thrown us different situations and circumstances we have had to work through. We have made different choices. Loved different people. Raised different children. Lived different lives.

But I find satisfaction in this, that I do my best. I will still fail and still fall short. But I'm human.

One of my favourite quotes at the moment is this...

With all my love.

Jess xx