“Mine isn’t like his so I’m throwing it away!”
Currently my twins love taking pieces of paper and stapling them together every morning in my office. They create envelopes to hold any treasures they may find during the day.
This morning we only had a couple minutes so I rushed them through the process and out my office door. One of my twins was proudly showing me the envelope he had created while we walked. He let me take a photo and everything. He was so excited about it…. that is until he saw his twin’s envelope.
Apparently his brother’s staples were straighter or there were more of them. I’m not exactly sure what it was but all of a sudden I saw his face fall and his hands crumple his envelope up into a tight little ball.
“Why’d you do that?” I asked.
“His was better so mine belongs in the trash. I don’t want it anymore.”
All the way across the parking lot from my school to his, I tried to convince him that his envelope was not trash. “It’s your creation honey. It’s supposed to be different than everybody else’s because you made it!”
He didn’t buy what I was selling.
I can’t blame him. Over the past couple weeks, I have known exactly how he feels. I’ve seen others parent better, create better, clean their houses better (my only evidence of this last piece being social), write better. I, too, have felt like crumbling up a lot of things and saying “This belongs in the trash because it’ll never be as good as theirs…”
I’m guessing maybe you’ve had a moment or two like this too? Basic human nature I guess. To compare our lives with those of others and say “Not good enough!”
My prayer for you and I this morning is that we recognize that our best can not be compared to someone else’s. We are uniquely and wonderfully made and what we produce or how we provide and care for our families can’t be the mirror image of someone else’s life.
Let us stop calling our work and our lives trash even in our own heads. Otherwise the world is gonna miss out on some wonderful stuff!
