I have always felt uncomfortable around competition, always; yet we live in a world that sears us daily with competition in every area, every footstep, every fiber of our being. From earliest childhood we begin to compete. In infancy, it is written into our code for self-preservation.
As we grow older, it becomes annoying.
It's damaging. It's demeaning. It's restrictive. It's hurtful. It's a burden.
It's unavoidable.
It's life.
Deal with it we must. Somehow.
But putting it {competition} and keeping it {competition} in perspective can go a long way in humanizing us to the level that God wants us to co-exist in love. We have to learn to embrace one another, help shape one another, build up each other, and work together as the Body of Christ.
This feet cannot balance the whole body without the toes.
The hands cannot grasp the tool without the fingers.
Each are necessary. Each are worthy. Each desire the good of the other.
"There is no such thing as competition."
To know that another might be called by Christ to do something we are not called to do is a sign of spiritual maturity.
To know that another might need to do what we are not willing to do is a sign of a blessing.
To know that another might not be able to do what we are having to do is a sign of Christian surrender.
To recognize and joyfully embrace these callings, these blessings, these surrenders; is a sign that we are willing to work for the Body of Christ as a whole and for the good of that Body.
And knowing that it was never about us to begin with.
This quote by Sr. Ruth Burrows is the best I've read.
As we grow older, it becomes annoying.
It's damaging. It's demeaning. It's restrictive. It's hurtful. It's a burden.
It's unavoidable.
It's life.
Deal with it we must. Somehow.
But putting it {competition} and keeping it {competition} in perspective can go a long way in humanizing us to the level that God wants us to co-exist in love. We have to learn to embrace one another, help shape one another, build up each other, and work together as the Body of Christ.
This feet cannot balance the whole body without the toes.
The hands cannot grasp the tool without the fingers.
Each are necessary. Each are worthy. Each desire the good of the other.
"There is no such thing as competition."
To know that another might be called by Christ to do something we are not called to do is a sign of spiritual maturity.
To know that another might need to do what we are not willing to do is a sign of a blessing.
To know that another might not be able to do what we are having to do is a sign of Christian surrender.
To recognize and joyfully embrace these callings, these blessings, these surrenders; is a sign that we are willing to work for the Body of Christ as a whole and for the good of that Body.
And knowing that it was never about us to begin with.
This quote by Sr. Ruth Burrows is the best I've read.
"There is no such thing as competition; it is senseless to compare this one with that.
"Each vocation is totally unique, and the temperament, circumstances, all the elements that go to make up my life are directed towards the shaping of that particular 'form' which is to receive God's love and express his beauty in a way unique to itself, thus becoming a living praise of the glory of his self-bestowing love."
~ Sister Ruth Burrows is a Carmelite nun at Quidenham in Norfolk, England. She is the author of a number of best-selling books.
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