Contentment killer

"Comparison is the death of contentment."

I don’t know for sure who said this, but it was someone smart.

This week a group of friends and I were discussing the danger of comparison. A few of them shocked the pants off of me by saying that one person they compare themselves to is me. Me? What?

WHAT???

I can’t tell you how this blew my mind. These are incredible women I love, who are beautiful, inside and out. These are women that I have felt inadequate standing next to, and all along they were feeling the same about me? As we talked they told me some of the things that they admired in my life and I told them of some of the ways that I thought my life would finally be complete if I was more like them. The whole experience was very enlightening for me. It seemed that we each had so many great qualities, but we were sometimes guilty of wishing for the others’ qualities. We talked about what a slap in the face that must be to God. He gifts us with these great attributes and instead of focusing on them, we turn around and wish for someone else’s.

How freeing would it be if we chose to only be inspired by people we admire, but to not let that inspiration turn into self condemnation? And if we recognized the beauty in our own lives and put all our effort into embracing and developing that beauty? Is it possible that God wants me to put my energy into appreciating my strengths instead of into obsessing about frivolous things like how I am not a certain jean size? I’m sure to most of you that revelation seems quite obvious, but somehow it has eluded me for some time. Too long. And contentment is not something I want to be responsible for killing. So for now, I’m hoppin’ off the comparison train. Care to join me?