“One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.” (Romans 14:2 NIV)
Focus on what you do have instead of what you don’t have. Comparing yourself to others is focusing on what you don’t have.
When I was single, I compared my life to my married friends’ lives. Jealousy is an ugly emotion. Married friends, from my single perspective, had life easy. Two incomes, someone to hold them every night, someone to tell them life is ok. Who wouldn’t want marriage? Getting married taught me a lesson. Marriage has problems too. What I thought marriage was and what it is are two very different things. I was jealous of something that didn’t exist. No one’s life is perfect. No one.
No one’s life is perfect. No one.
John Travolta recently lost his wife Kelly Preston to breast cancer. From a spectator’s perspective, my heart aches for the tragedy he has endured. They lost their son at 19 from a seizure. Their beautiful love story tells the truth of life. Money and success can’t stop heartbreak for anyone. Life happens whether we want it too or not. What we can do is embrace each day God gives us.
The best way to embrace the day is to start by thanking God:
“This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24 NIV)
God made this day. His breath is what allows you to breathe. He woke you up this morning, He’ll give you the energy you need for the day ahead. Having a roof over your head, running water and electricity, is a privilege. 60% of the people in the world today do not have clean water. Living in America, you have freedoms no one else in the world has. We are land of the free, home of the brave because of God. He led our forefathers, they led our country.
No matter what you thank God for this morning, start somewhere. When we are thanking God for our blessings, we’re focusing on what we do have instead of what we don’t have. As we begin to thank Him, the list grows quickly. Our eyes become more and more focused on the goodness of God. Let His goodness flow into you. Let His Spirit fill you. Bask in the rays of His amazing Son.
One of my friends was a physical therapist. In a Bible study we did years ago, she told us about her day. Working with people who would never walk again made her appreciate she could. She told us she would walk home from work, praising God for her body parts. Her arms, her legs, her ability to move, she realized, were all blessings from above.
Focus on what you do have, instead of what you don’t have.
Question of the Day:
What are you focusing on today?
Further Reading: 2 Chronicles 29:1-36 NIV, Romans 14 NIV, Psalm 24 NIV, Proverbs 20:12 NIV
