Piecesofme.

July 27, 2008

So today at our Divine Warriors gathering, we learned about comparing ourselves to others. Wow. We took a survey…and I scored surprisingly high. If you received 20 or over then that meant that you struggle with comparing yourself to others. Haha. My score was 26. I never realized just how much I compared myself with those around me. I knew I did, but wow, I do it a lot. One of the survey questions was, “How often do you give other girls the once-over?” The once-over is basically judging another person at first sight or by their appearance. I put a five there: most of the times. Even if it’s a positive judgment, I’m still looking at them and comparing myself to them. I notice that I don’t just compare physical qualities between me and another girl; I also compare characteristics and abilities. I always try to be the “best” at everything. Sometimes when I see a girl who I think can be a better wife than me, I get irritated, or even a better girlfriend. Here’s a list of just some of the things I want to be best at:

1) School

2) Sports

3) Singing

4) Piano

5) Being a wife/girlfriend

6) Leader

7) Friend

**but I’ve noticed that when I try to be the best at everything…I’m only half good…because there are too many things to be good at.

When I compare myself with others, I may end up putting myself above other people. This is definitely wrong, because everyone, I mean EVERYONE, can definitely do something better than you. When I put others below me, I don’t give them the respect that I should. Also, when I put someone highly of me because they’re more beautiful, I’m also forgetting about how amazing God made me. When we forget, our self-esteem lowers…and we may even become emo and depressed. How does this make God feel? I bet He’s crying with frustration because we do not realize just how beautiful He made each and everyone one of us. God makes all things beautiful.

As human beings, we tend to focus on the negative than we do the positive. One mistake or flaw irritates us. But we have to remember that no one is perfect. Also, God allows mistakes and flaws so that we may learn and mature to be men and women of God. As they say, “Beauty is from the inside-out.”

Our culture today definitely tells us that physical beauty is everything. One has to be skinny, have flawless skin, perfect bone structure, proportioned body, etc…

NO! The only beauty I see in all of that is…nothing, unless you use it to praise the Lord.

With all of these things on my mind, I don’t have enough time to think about God and praise Him. I’m too focused on materialistic things instead of bringing glory to God.

I know during this time in my life, I’m still struggling with Chao and his new interest. I look at her and say to myself, “Of course he would like her. She is so much prettier than me, so much more humble, more talented….etc. Basically she’s better than me.” With these thoughts, I forget how amazing I am in the eyes of God. I too have my strengths, not just weaknesses. God made me the way I am so that I can impact the world for Him and no one else. We all have our own purpose and our own path that God has made for us. Our job is to forget all the shallow stuff and focus on Him so that we can figure out His purpose in us and make sure we follow the right path.

We need to appreciate all of the amazing people in our lives, but we cannot compare ourselves to them.

We also need to appreciate all of the, what we think are the “not so amazing” people because God put them in our lives for a purpose. Also, they too have amazing qualities within them. Even though we may not see them, God does.

So, the lesson learned:

Stop comparing myself to others and learn to appreciate everyone in my life. Bring glory to God in all I do and remember to focus on Him.

I LOVE JESUS, YES I DO. I LOVE JESUS, HOW ABOUT YOU????