The Most Freeing Thought

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart...." - Jeremiah 1:5

I just got back from my morning walk down at the soccer fields. Spending the first hours of each Friday there is such a blessing to me. Lots of the same folks come on a regular basis because it really is a great place to get in a little exercise.

Though we're all there to get in some steps, we're not all going about it the same way or at the same speed.

Some run. Lots walk. Parents show up pushing babies in strollers or jogging alongside their littles who are learning to ride a bike. There have even been a few individuals here and there making the rounds on roller blades.

Even among those of us who walk, there is quite a bit of difference in both our pace and in our purpose. Of course there is the all business crowd who come for a real workout. You rarely get a "hello" out of them... more like a quick two finger wave as they speed by. There are couples chatting as they casually meander along, and older folks walking their pups (I really enjoy exchanging pleasantries with these guys). Then there are those who don't seem able to tear themselves away from their phones long enough to go one round uninterrupted.

All this to say simply that even with the same theme there can be many different variations.

This morning's walk reminded me of a conversation I had recently with one of my girls. We were talking about the comparison game. It's not a fun one. I don't know why we are so insistant on pulling that one off the shelf!

It is utterly an exercise in futility, for we are trying to balance on equal scales very different weights and measures. We pit ourselves against someone else's standard, when in reality there is no comparison at all even possible. How could there be?

God put tremendous thought and insight into designing each one of us as unique creations. He took His time crafting your personality, your strengths, your talents, your gifts. It was the most perfect form of chemical equation. Everything that went into making you you blended together in such a way, in such proportions, that no other person in the world is exactly like you.

You see the futility in comparison?

God didn't just throw things randomly together when He did this handcrafting. He chose. Carefully. Painstakingly. A bit of this. Lots if that. And when He looked at the beloved child He had created, it was a work of art. YOU are a work of art. His masterpiece, designed with a specific purpose in mind that only you can fulfill.

We let comparison get the better of us sometimes anyway though, don't we? Someone always runs faster, speaks more eloquently, is better organized, has greater talent, experiences more success, and so on, and so on.

When we compare ourselves to others according to the world's standard or to someone else's unique giftedness we do so to our own detriment, and probably much to the disappointment of the One who created and crafted us.

When the gifts God designed especially for us meet the specific purpose He designed them for, it is literally a "match made in heaven." In that circumstance there is no one better for the job put before you, the "Call" He whispers to your heart... than you. God knows what He is doing. There is none like Him. And because of Him... there is none like you.

As believers we all travel the same narrow path. We have the same goal, the same finish line. Some sprint ahead. Some lag behind. Some sit to rest and refresh a bit before continuing on. Some need help and encouragement. Some are there to give it.

We share the journey, but we each do it in a very unique way... just the way God designed it.

And isn't that the most freeing thought of all.