Purple Henbit

The other day I was sitting out on my back porch, and I looked over at the neighbor's backyard and saw the purple henbit blooming. I remember thinking how pretty it was. Yesterday, I was out walking around my backyard and realized we also had purple henbit blooming. I realized that I was so busy looking at the neighbor's yard, that I didn’t even look to see what I had in my own backyard. Then it hit me how this applies to life as well. We are so often so busy looking at others’ lives that we miss what we have in our own. We compare what someone else has, and find ourselves lacking. Comparison is the thief of joy. We are so busy looking at what other people have and are trying to achieve that, we miss out on what we have right in front of us. 

This even works when it comes to healing. I have found myself saying, “well that person has it so much worse than I do.”, and that invalidates my own struggles. Trauma, and chronic illness cannot be compared. It will always be an unfair comparison. There are so many different factors that need to be figured in, that it cannot ever be a fair comparison. Just because someone went through something, seemingly worse than I did, doesn’t mean I’m not struggling as well. It just means we are both struggling, and we both need support. 

Let’s remember not to look at what other people have so much, and when we do, let it be to make sure that they have enough, and not to compare it to ourselves. Comparison is the thief of joy, and it’s usually not a fair comparison anyway.