*This is a saying that they use here in Thailand that ties in to this blog. 🙂
Comparison.
It's a struggle that a lot of us deal with. I have struggled with it on and off for most of my life. It's easy to compare ourselves to someone else when we are insecure about things in our own life. It's easy for us to think: "I wish I was more outgoing, I wish I was funnier, I wish I was prettier, etc." We all have those things that we don't like about ourselves and therefore wish for those qualities that we want in others around us.
The thing is, God made us EXACTLY how He wanted us to be. Psalm 139 talks about how He knit us together in our mother's womb. The way we were made is no accident. Wishing that we are someone else or wishing for things/qualities we don't have is silly because we were made this way for a reason. We are all unique masterpieces that God carefully crafted together for a purpose.
I like to think about it this way…imagine an art museum. All the pieces of art are beautiful and unique yet very different, but they are all masterpieces of an artist. The artist spends lots of time and thought on each painting and they are all wonderful. We are the paintings and God is the artist. If a painting sat there in the museum wishing it were just like another painting, what would be the purpose in that? If that wish came true then there would be two paintings exactly the same. Can you imagine going to an art museum, excited to see all the unique and different paintings but instead only see paintings that look just like one another? That is silly you might think, but that is what we are wishing for when we compare ourselves to others.
Deep down we sometimes strive to be just like the person that we compare ourselves to. We might think that life would be better if we could be more like that person. We need to rest in the fact that God purposefully did not make us like anybody else. He gave us our unique gifts so that we could touch peoples' lives in ways that other people aren't able to. Instead of grieving over the qualities that we don't have (the qualities that God purposefully didn't give us), we need to celebrate and use the qualities and gifts that He chose to give us.
And remember:
We are unique.
We are beautiful.
We were made for a purpose.
🙂
