Graceful

Lisa-Jo Baker Five Minute Friday

Start.

Graceful.

I have read quite a bit this past week about comparing ourselves with others. How detrimental it is to our emotional and mental well being. This morning as I sat down here with my coffee mug I reflected on the thoughts of others as well as how this very thing has played out in my life.

Whether it was taking the stage and my mind replaying the girl who had performed right before me or worrying about who would follow me and how I compared to them, it ate away at me. I shyed away from being everything I could be as a ballerina because I was so worried it wouldn't measure up. It crippled me. Now, ten years later (since I last performed) I sit here and the regret is suffocating. I had SO much more in me to give, I just held it back because I reasoned that it wouldn't be like hers (and the her was different almost every time).

I caught myself doing it this last week when I went out for a run. "His pace is so good and strong and methodic, she looks so effortless and light when she runs, they are sweating a ton so they must have run miles." My mile and a half didn't seem so great then. How crazy is that? Who cares? Who cares if someone else runs faster, lighter, longer?

God showers us each with grace to do what we do and to carry us through what we cannot do. We are all graceful. We are all full of His grace. But it is tailor made. It fits who we are, meets us where we are, and carries us to where we are going. Our grace will not look like anybody elses. So why waste the time comparing ourselves with someone else?

Stop.