“A flower doesn’t think of competing to the flower next to it, it just blooms”
An excerpt from a journal entry of mine a few months ago.
“How sad would it be to come to the end of my life and had not fulfilled my purpose on this Earth because I was too busy trying to be someone who I was never created to be”
That is heavy to think about. If you are a Christian, you most likely believe that each person’s presence on this Earth is for a specific reason. We believe in the intentionality of God, yet when we look into that mirror, it all fades away too quickly.
How many times have you thought your life would be significantly better if you looked like her? Had her job? Had her husband or boyfriend? Had her influence?
You see God is all powerful, but we often forget how deceptive the enemy can be. He can minimize your value so quickly it will make your head spin.
Comparison and trying to be someone you're not is like chasing the wind. You will never actually get anywhere and overall it is a waste of time. Although, this is much easier to say than actually believe (trust me).
Here is a quick and painful truth for you. You will never be anyone else but you no matter how hard you try.
Now how most people address the topic of comparison goes something like this; “Comparison is bad. The grass isn’t always greener on the other side of the fence. Don’t compare yourself to others. The end.”
If you’re anything like me, that does really stick with me. That doesn’t invoke change in my life.
The image in my head that does stop comparison in its track is this scenario. Let’s pretend it is the end of your life and God sits down to talk with you.
He says, “I sent you down to Earth to love this person, to mentor this person, to be a friend to the person in the darkest time of their life, to show this group of teenage girls how to understand their worth and to use your unique skills as a nurse to comfort this family in the hospital on one of the worst days of their life. Instead of utilizing the gifts I gave to you and only you to do those things, you spent your whole life chasing this facade of trying to be someone who you were never supposed to be.”
Now that's what kicks the comparison to the curb for me. The idea of not living out my full potential and specific purpose in this life.
Living out your specific life purpose is depicted in Ephesians chapter two, verse ten. This verse explains how each person is God’s workmanship (his unique and perfect creation). When creating each of us, He had a specific and unique purpose in mind. Let that sink in for a second.
The creator of the whole universe had a specific reason to create you and has prepared you to carry out that unique purpose.
Ephesians 2:10
For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
I had to implement this mindset during my time in college. Since sophomore year of college, I was a mentor to the incoming freshman in one way or another. I mentored the incoming freshman for our sports medicine program, and then my senior year I taught a whole class of twenty freshmen. I was responsible for helping them transition to college.
Mentoring freshmen was my passion. I loved doing life with them, helping them through difficult situations, and just being a good friend to them.
One day I caught myself in a comparison trap. Some of the thoughts that came to my mind were; well it would have been so fun if I had been in sorority or have done athletics in college that would have been so great or have gone to a big SEC school where they sure seem like they have fun.
But then it hit me. I had been living in my specific purpose at Berry. I had been using my skills of making others feel welcome and mentoring those younger than me. There is no guarantee that I would be doing that anywhere else. I felt in my heart I was exactly where God wanted me.
Knowing that I was using my unique skills to love those around me well stopped the comparison in my mind.
Nothing would make my day quite like a text or a note from one of my freshmen telling me they were so appreciative of all that I had done for them. That I made them feel like they belonged and that they were loving college. Now that is special.
There is a huge burden lifted when you take all the pressure off yourself. You don’t need to change. You need to be you; there is so much joy to be found when you are living in your specific purpose.
“Created things have purpose. There is just one you. You have a unique calling, a reason for being. Something to do in God’s great story that is important and needed. Don’t buy the lie that you are expendable. Your life matters, to Him and to those He is positioning you to serve.”
-Louie Giglio
