Comparison - 30 Days of Authenticity #3

"Comparison is the theif of joy." - Theodore Roosevelt 

Today I am heading to a homeschool convention. I remember going last year and being all starry eyed as I gazed at booths, so many options! I could join this coop- that looked fun. I could do this method- they learn Latin. I could join this program- they do art and meet twice a week. Oh! How could I ever decide?

It was in the still moments that followed, when I asked God, just we two alone in that busy room, that I got my answer. None of the above. All those things were great, but he was calling me to a year of quiet, a year at home, a year with him. 

This year has been wonderful. But in that moment I looked around at all the shiny posters, and booklets and programs and wondered if I might be missing out. Now I know better.

Homeschooling mothers , in spite of their superhero-like abilities, are actually just human. And being human, we have weaknesses in some areas. A big one I have noticed in myself and almost EVERY woman I've talked to is a propensity to fall into the trap of comparison.

Comparison is a putrid, vile, filthy lie of the enemy that comes to steal our joy. I'm not talking about lining up traits of different curriculums or window cleaners and deciding which is best. I'm talking about the insidious desire the enemy stirs in us to compare others to ourselves in an effort to selfjustify or condemn. This is from the pit of hell and serves no purpose but to cripple us from action and keep us bound.

I know moms who have a schedule and stay on routine , orderly moving through the day. I know moms whose children bounce randomly between activities all day long. I know moms whose floors could be eaten off, yet they are the same moms whose children would never eat off the floor. I know moms whose floors should probably be reported to the health district, yet their children regularly feast off of them (this may be a mom I know VERY well) They all have amazing kids who are truly blessed.

I struggle with comparison but the older I get the easier it gets (maybe those wrinkles are good for something). For me it has been hard to appreciate people who are different from me without being critical or jealous of them. For example, I see someone dressed in the height of fashion and my first response is to feel bad because for me dressing up constitutes getting out of yoga pants and into jeans. My other response has been to judge them as having misordered priorities, because they value something higher than I do. Both these responses came from self protection.

God is teaching me that to be wholly myself I have to be able to receive others as they are. Not be intimidated by their greatness or ashamed by their weakness. This is how God is with us, he accepts us as we are, because of who HE is. As we become like him, we can do the same.

I think the first step of recovering from a life of comparison is to get rooted in who you are. We were made by God to be loved by him and love him in return. If you aren't feeling the love, ask God today for an infusion. He IS love and desperately longs to fill us with himself.

I love that old saying, "God made me and God don't make junk!" Whoever God made you to be, embrace it! I was recently so encouraged by thinking of the story of one of my favorite families.

Their amazing homeschooling mom did not like to craft. She did not do glorious art projects with her children. She was not a musician, poet, artist, designer or dancer. Yet the one thing that defined her was that she was - and is - a friend of God. And God, being infinitely creative- became friends with all of her children. 

Amazingly enough, among those children you will now find musicians, artists, dancers, poets and designers and so much more. When you embrace who you are and stay connected to Jesus, he gloriously fills in everything that you are not.

Get with Jesus and hear who he has called you to be. Find your acceptance in the fact that he has marked you with a heavenly stamp that reads "accepted" and "beloved" because of the price he paid. Then go to the conference and be encouraged by the people of vision with the bright shiny placards, the moms who are organized, the ones who are beautifully fashionable. Luckily they are already being them so you are free to be you!

(Preaching to myself - Incase you didn't notice ;) 

"Do your own work well, and then you will have something to be proud of. But don't compare yourself with others." Eph 6:4 ESV