During this time of year it can be so easy to get lost in the cycle of comparison. Everything we see and hear points towards perfection. The cookie cutter holiday images like a white Christmas, gathering around a fireplace and even the birth of our Savior have become so overly glamorized that it's skewed our perception of reality and effectively dimmed the shine on our own lives.
You look to social media, and what do you see? Engagements, baby announcements and happy families. You look at all these perfectly captured moments, and you can't help but think, "Why can't this be me?"
You see, when we focus in on everything that is lacking in our own photo, it's easy to feel empty and begin to search for ways to be filled. This is exactly what the thief, comparison does to steal your joy.
"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy" - John 10:10a
And during the holidays society has found an exceptional way of providing both fuel for this feeling and false hope for removing it. Because let's face it, getting married isn't going to make you feel better. Neither is having a baby or trying to craft a 'picture perfect' holiday gathering. When you're stuck in the comparison cycle there will always be someone or something better that you're chasing after.
The best way to break this cycle is to stop looking around and start looking up to see what God has has placed within. When you stop to think about how intentional our greater is, and was, in making you, your picture begins to look so much fuller and brighter.
Because when you think about it, there is not another you that has ever existed in the history of life. You are the age you are, in the year you are, in the year you are, in the job you are, in the family you are, for a reason.
THERE IS NO ONE ELSE ON THIS EARTH WHO CAN BE YOU!
So when you spend more time seeking to be someone or something else than being yourself, the world misses out on who God and everyone else needs you to be. Your purpose, four calling, even your imperfections, make you perfectly unique and that's exactly who God intended you to be. Trust me when I tell you, we need you just as you are.
Stop Letting Comparison Steal Your Shine
Grab ahold of that uniqueness today. Throw out this idea of a picture perfect life. Look up, look in and you'll stop caring how things look when you look around. Remember this:
"You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lamp stand and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." - Matthew 5:14-16