Have you ever seen someone else accomplish something that you would like to accomplish? Perhaps that something is a dream you set on the back burner while you were raising children.
Are you happy for this achiever? Are you jealous of them?
When someone else achieves something that you’ve longed to achieve, it can be a little hard to not envy them. I think it’s particularly hard if you’ve not accomplished what you set out to in the time frame that you hoped to achieve it. I think it could also be hard if you chose to abandon that dream at some point, and now you realize that you could have achieved it already if you had stuck with it. Regret is always hard.
In my case, I set a career on the backburner to raise children. It was not hard for me to do that because when I married Bob I had to move. What I used to do was not really an option where I was going to be living. Before I could really get anything new going, I got pregnant. The blessing of children outweighed any goal I had at the time.
Over the years, however, God gave me new goals and dreams. When I went back into the working world and started gearing up for a new career, I became excited about those new goals. Sometimes I saw other folks achieve things or attempt to achieve things that I wanted to do, but I had not had the time to do because I was just starting out. Quite honestly, I also really did not know what I needed to know to be able to achieve what it was I wanted to achieve.
A sound heart is the life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones.
Proverbs 14:30
When you see some else achieve, you have a choice. You can destructively wallow in envy, jealousy and self-pity, or you can constructively be inspired to follow that dream that God gave you that you have not accomplished yet.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:10
God’s plan is to put you where He wants you so you can do what He has for you to do. I encourage you to let go of any envy or jealousy. I encourage you to not look back in regret. Instead, go forward with what God has for you to do.
Be inspired that you can accomplish that plan God has for you because He will make a way for anything He gives you to do. When God shuts a door – even on something you thought you wanted – be sure to thank Him.
LIFE APPLICATION
Key Focal Verse:
Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
Revelation 4:11
Today’s challenge is to take a look at those things you see others achieve that bug you, and perhaps make you feel a bit jealous. Ask yourself what dream you have put on the back burner. Pray about what God would have you to do with it. Perhaps this is just your wake up call!