.

So there’s this game called Jenga that I absolutely love… I’m sure you’re familiar with it. It doesn’t take much to get the game rolling.  To play, you’d simply assemble all of the blocks by stacking them upon each other which results in building a tower like figure.  When thats done, you (and the other players) begin picking the blocks apart until eventually the tower topples over and falls, leaving behind a mess.  Well, guess what… thats very much what happens when we allow ourselves to play the game of Comparison. Mentally, we stack our accomplishments and build our mental towers all so we can pick apart and measure our personal success by the success or accomplishments of another. Think about it. You’re completely content with your life. You’ve accomplished your own personal goals so you’re in the land of bliss. You wake praising God because he’s blessed you with the desires of your heart. You’ve graduated school, had a family, taken a few vacations,  and landed your dream career as a school teacher.  You love that you’re home every night with your family spending quality time, baking homemade desserts and making from scratch biscuits, just as your grandma did. BUT then it happens. Someone comes and taps on your gratitude + happiness with their happiness. In most cases this occurs by way of a phone call or visit from an old friend or family member.  A friend or family member who appears to HAVE. IT. ALL. I’m talking a highly sought after career, with great benefits and awesome travel opportunities. She recently purchased a newly constructed home that she handpicked and designed, and it’s a bit of a mini-mansion. Her husband is a handsome and well-rounded guy, who’s well respected within the community and they have healthy, beautiful children. Everyone seems to love her, she’s made some great friendships in life AND a few solid investments into her future. Now as if that’s not already EVERYTHING, she’s also an entrepreneur, so she’s throwing up hashtags like  “BOSSBABE” “GIRLBOSS”, and “GOGETTA”  like no tomorrow. In conversing, she squealed in excitement that her recent product launch yielded a whopping $5K in profit within the first month of sales, and thats with limited marketing capability and part-time efforts (as she has a full-time career already). Needless to say, things are looking pretty friggin’ promising for her future as an entrepreneur.  So much so, that she’s already devised a plan to join the “I Quit in 2016 Movement.” She rambles on and on about how much she believes in the “Law of Attraction” and following her passion while living in her God-given purpose– her way of thinking and living seems to be working out pretty well–it’s allowed her to soar to higher heights.  In listening to her tone of voice, you can hear that she really is a ball of joy. Suddenly, something shifts…Do you

remember how happy you were earlier? It’s kinda of hard to right? You were super content prior to that phone call or visit,  but suddenly after your mental analysis, after the mental game of accomplishment stacking occurred, your comparison revealed that she’s living a much better life than you after all. In your mind, you’ve managed to convince yourself that you’re not really Charlie Sheening! You walk away feeling like you’re behind the success curve.  What comes next? Hello, Jenga! You begin to make a mess of things, you’ve scattered your life into pieces and allowed self doubt to kick in. You now have this strong sense of urgency kicking your butt! You feel that false sense of NEEDING to DO MORE, you’re feeling that sense of NEEDING TO HAVE MORE,  You’re feeling that sense of NEEDING TO BE MORE.  Being you + doing you isn’t sufficient, not when your friends seem to have accomplished so much more. Suddenly, just like that, what God has given You-for-You, isn’t good enough. Emmm, Mmmm! It simply WILL.NOT.DO.  Why is that?

PAUSE FOR REFLECTION:

Why is it so hard for you to genuinely love your life?  It’s easy for us to convenience the world of our happiness, but it’s another ball game when we can’t convenience ourselves. See, you’re the one person you can’t fool. The fact is you COULD actually be happy IF you looked inward for your peace of mind and joy. If you looked at Gods plan for your life and measured yourself amongst where YOU were as opposed to where SOMEONE ELSE IS or WAS. See, you can’t measure your success or self-worth by someone else’s victory or loss. You can only measure your success by your individual growth, by your life journey. If you practice this way of thinking and living, you’ll find that you’re more successful than you’d thought. How, you ask?  Well, because you’re continuing to grow and develop as the person God has designed YOU to be. Things and accolades don’t make you a winner, they don’t determine wether or not you’re actually “Charlie Sheening” in life. However, the person you were yesterday, in comparison to the person you’ve become TODAY DOES… IF you’ve become a better version of yourself, then you’re already WINNING! Just keep pushing and keep striving. With that in mind…

 

Here are the three reasons you need to”Cut the Comparison Crap + Focus on Doing You“

 

COMPARISON LEADS to ENVY…

When you get caught up in playing the game of Comparison, you give entry to ENVY. You  succumb to temptation and the desire to do or be like someone else. Here’s the thing. We all have our special gifts and talents so there is no need to Envy or to compete with someone else, for something that God gave them. It’s more fulfilling to embrace the gifts that God gave you. As no good thing is birthed from envy or jealousy. “For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.” James 3:16

GOD BLESSES US WHEN WE FOCUS ON OUR OWN GOALS AND FOLLOW HIS INSTRUCTION FOR OUR LIVES

YOU WILL BE BLESSED WHEN YOU WALK IN YOUR OWN UNIQUE PURPOSE, and follow your own individual passion and path to happiness. Thessalonians 4:11-12 says: “studying to be quiet, and doing your own business, and working with your own hands, as we commanded you. You will walk honestly toward your goals and you will have lack of nothing” So why bother with the comparison, embrace your unique journey and in that you will lack NOTHING

BECAUSE YOU SHOULD COMPARE YOURSELF TO CHRIST INSTEAD

If ever we feel the need to compare ourselves to anything or anyone let it be CHRIST HIMSELF, as when we do this, we are living within the will of GOD. Isn’t that what we’re here for? Aren’t we here so that we can give GOD the glory, so that we can shine our lights so bright that we draw others into him. Lets not lose ourselves in accolades, businesses, portfolios or any other superficial thing that this world offers. As when we stand before the Lord our GOD, it’s our heart that he judges, not what we have or what we did that was better or less than someone else.  Scripture says “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” 1 Corinthians 11:1

With that in mind, step out into the world as the best version of yourself. Seek God in all things and in that you will be blessed.

 

“Be Kind, Live Well, & Stay Humble“