The Problem With Comparison

Sometimes you get to the end of another week and you look back and ask yourself, "what happened this week that would be worth telling anyone about?" Yourself, being the moderately insane person that he is, answers back, "hmmmm...nope. Nothin' here." Oh, sure, you did a number of things over the week, and you accomplished a lot, but not a bit of it seems particularly note worthy.
It's in those moments that you start to ask yourself, "if I was *talkative friend who shall not be named*, what part of my week would I be communicating right now?" But because you just aren't one of those people who tend to be able to talk about anything at any time you think for a moment introspectively and respond, "...still got nothing."
Let's be honest folks. Not every day is an apple-pie-sepia-filter-instagram day. There are times when these days, weeks, and occasionally months can feel rather disconcerting. I like to use Facebook because it gives me a way to stay connected to people I care about. But Facebook--and many other forms of social media--comes with side-effects. Many of us already know that the tendency is to post the better portions of our lives online, or to dress up the average bits so that they sparkle like the new snapchat filter. And why wouldn't we? Who wants to hang their dirty laundry out for the world to see? It's not entirely a bad thing. In fact some of us could use even more discretion when it comes to what we post online. (Why would a potential employer need to call your references when you've already painted a clear image of your immaturity and total lack of responsibility in your last three party posts?)
But for the most part we see the good stuff. And there is nothing wrong with good stuff. I see happy babies, and proud spouses, and world travelers, and upset babies, and accomplished kids, and goofy babies, and weddings, and anniversaries, and poopy babies, and graduations, and delicious meals, and growing babies, and hilarious antics, and people coming together, and round bellies carrying babies (seriously people, SO many babies!). There are so many wonderful and exciting things happening in the lives of people that I care about. As wonderful as that is for them (and I'm very happy for you all), it can become discouraging and generate discontentment in my own life.
Your life from this side of the screen looks fantastic, and so does his, and hers, and theirs, and hers... Soon the voice of doubt and discouragement slips in. Too bad your life isn't that exciting. Why don't you get to do those things? What's wrong with you? Then the Ifonly monster tries to defend you, but tears you up in the process. If only I lived in that area...If only I was in this relationship...If only I had those skills...If only...
Before long you have generated a thousand reasons for dropping the life you have now and picking up the life that your friends are living. Or are they?
Let's take a look at the numbers. I have (some of you will laugh at this, I don't care) 350 "friends" on Facebook. If those people take turns so that only ten people post positive portrayals of their lives every day (in one post or five, it doesn't matter) it would be an entire month before any one of those friends would need to have another good day to post. One good day a month is all it would take. Some of you probably have over 1,000 friends. Your friends could have one good day every three months and that would be sufficient to generate a state of discontent. Does that really sound like a better life?
I know that isn't how things actually work. But it isn't too far from the reality. I see plenty of negative posts about people's struggles, frustrations, accidents, tragedies, worries, and losses. Does that ever factor into my negative self-talk? Nope! Your life still looks generally better from all the way over here. Ipso facto, your life is better than mine.
Actually, this is not a 21st century phenomenon. Paul didn't live anywhere near the time of Twitter, but he still had to remind Christians several times in multiple geographic areas that envy and jealousy were not products of a healthy walk with Christ. On the contrary, he tells us that love--a product of a Spirit filled life--does not envy. He says that he has found a way to be content in any situation. We're not talking about contentment that is a resigned and bitter settling for less, because in the same letter Paul keeps pounding at the drum of "rejoice in the Lord always!" He tells us that our lives are to be marked with thankfulness, and there are a plethora of reasons to be thankful at any given moment.
So let's be honest. Not every day is a #nofilter day. Most days would seem in passing to be ordinary; maybe even ho-hum. Other days can be outright unpleasant or even horrendous. But some days are wonderful. And even when they aren't, each day is a unique creation of God, and is full of blessings for which we can be thankful and even rejoice. His mercies are new every morning. No day is without purpose. No life is without purpose. Don't give up on yours so easily. God made it extra special, and there isn't another like it in its unique beauty.