Don't be a donkey

 One of the joys of homeschooling is reading with your children.  There have been times during times of mourning that hearing my little ones read the Bible was the healing balm to my soul.  Other times what we read that day would be like a slap across the face. Take our little story today...

"A donkey having heard some grasshoppers chirping, was highly enchanted; and, desiring to possess the same charms of melody, demanded to know what sort of food they lived on to give them such beautiful voices.  They replied, "The dew."  The Donkey resolved that he would live only on the dew, and in a short time died of hunger."  Aesop's Fables

Comparison is the thief of joy.  

What kind of donkey do you have to be to spend all your time and energy comparing yourself to others? 

I've struggled with this for GOD ONLY KNOWS HOW LONG...  It makes me crazy.  At least I catch it now more than I used to, and I can talk myself out of it sometimes, but comparison steals my joy all too often. 

I have a great life that I love very much with many blessings I could count all day every day, but what do I do instead?  I ruminate on a single aspect in my life that has been a struggle FOREVER.  I tell myself if I had "that" I would be happy.  My life would be complete.  

As women maybe we are prone to do this more and with social media we only ever see the good side of a person's life so it's easy to compare someone else's life with ours and think they have something we need.  

Could be looks, money, marriage, it could be cars, houses, clothes.  It could be friend groups or careers.  But it's a lie to think that someone out there in the world HAS IT ALL.  Everyone has some wonderful blessings in their lives, and everyone has some serious hardships and struggles.  

You could look at a person's life that you admire and think "wow, they have the best life" because her IG shows the part of her life that she's proud of, but what it doesn't show you is the parts that hurt, the parts that keep her on her knees. However, they are there and at the end of the day I know that we would all choose the life that we are living and have been given.  So, maybe at the start of the day we should set our intentions that we are going to be grateful for our whole life, the good and the bad.  

Instead of being like the donkey and starving to death wanting someone else's gifts, we should recognize our own.  

The best way to overcome this disease of comparison is to be extravagantly grateful for what we have been given.  Starting with the simple, yet vital things like air in our lungs, a body that can experience this world and just keep going from there.  The simpler your gratitude starts the greater the blessings that you have to praise God for.  

God created the grasshoppers and the donkey each with their own purpose.  He didn't make them the same.  He didn't give them the same purpose, but they were both created to bring HIM glory in their own ways.  

Remember the Apostle Paul's words to the Philippian church, as he himself was sitting in prison... "Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is LOVELY, whatever is commendable, if there be any excellence, IF THERE IS ANYTHING WORTHY OF PRAISE, THINK ABOUT THESE THINGS."  Phil. 4:8

There is always a reason to PRAISE.  As long as we are alive and breathing, we have a reason to praise the LORD.  If praise is in our lips nothing else can come out.  When we practice an attitude of praise and thanksgiving life has a whole new outlook.  

Life is already too short..  don't be like the donkey and starve yourself of the simple joy of living a contented, grateful life.