I'm a Flippy Little Dolphin: To Love is to Stop Comparing

I'm going to be real tonight as I write this blog. I'm going to write about something personal and real, because I think it needs to be said for all of you who feel the same way. There's no need for this to flow eloquently, but rather for you to know that you're not alone, and for everyone to take heart in that we all feel the same way. According to my wanna-be-writer grandpa C.S. Lewis, being relatable makes best writing, anyway.

I compare myself to others. Oh and how I do this.

It usually starts when I'm just having a blah or even okay day and then something comes up that makes me feel bad about myself. Maybe it's a reminder of the rejection I felt by a group of believers recently. I Facebook creep so and so and I see that they've made more friends than me. Someone gets multiple reprimands for going on a week-long mission trip and I selfishly ask why few cared about my time as a student missionary.

I put the good things down that make me jealous to convince myself that what I offer is better-"They were so annoying that I don't care that they don't like me anyway." "Paaay money for friends=sorority!" "Oh quit crying. They were gone for a week overseas. You martyr you." "Your parents pay for everything and you're in your 20's. Good luck with the real world."

And I taunt the bad things in glee, in attempt to delight in myself. "Lololol she gained soooo much weight and she thought she was hot stuff in high school!"  "You're so vain that you put up song lyrics with edited Instagram pictures of yourself. Ha!"

I notice that these thoughts come up when I'm insecure, when I feel that I'm worthless. My instinct as a human is to judge what I see on the outside and to lie and to build myself up. My instinct is to parade around and say "Look at me, look at me! I'm a flippy little dolphin!" or whatever the sharks say on Finding Nemo.

But doing this exhausts me. It makes me hate myself and the world around me. I see the world through selfish sunglasses, until I put on the Son's glasses to see His work. (Corny Jesus pun, heh.)

God loves, loves, loves all of us! We were all made awesomely! It doesn't matter who you are, but you were knit together by God and THAT alone is your identity! Our sin brought in the wrath of God, but Christ paid for our sins, so we can enjoy the presence of God, and this is when it all makes sense-in God's presence.  When you see yourself that way, wow oh how does everything change. And when you see others that way, you can embrace each other in mutual awesomeness. It's no longer comparing or contrasting, but loving God and the people He has made. According to Francis Chan, that's all life is about, anyway.

If our life is about loving the people God has made, then the following statement by John Piper must also be true-"To love is to stop comparing." We are no longer "flippy little dolphins" trying to show off our epicness nor sharks wanting to attack others so we feel good, but we are all the creation of the Sovereign God.