Being an adult is a really interesting experience, especially right now. Everyone I know is at a different stage of life – some friends are in relationships, some are married, some are single, some have full-time jobs, some are still in college, and some, like me, are still searching for gainful employment. That, to me, is exciting because even as I am charting new territory and waiting for God’s plans for me to unfold, I can still celebrate with others as they rejoice in their seasons and in the blessings God is bringing to them at this time. But I’m realizing that everyone cannot do that so easily. For some of us, looking onto others’ success is impossible without comparison, without drawing a distinct line in the sand with the success of others on one side of the sand and us and our failures on the other side. I know it’s human nature, but I’m going to ask anyway – why do we do that and how do we do that? How do we take someone else’s moment for our own? How do we make something that has nothing to do with us? I am aware of what I just asked and I want us to wrestle with that while I offer an alternative perspective. What if I told you that while the success of others is not about you, they may be for you?

What I’m trying to say is that instead of perceiving the success of others around you as evidence of your deficiency, why not perceive them as evidence of what is possible, of what God can do when we are ready, willing, able, and possess faith?

“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,” – Hebrews 12:1

I love this scripture for a couple of reasons that I’ll break down. Firstly, I love the expression so great a cloud of witnesses because it reminds us that as isolating as it can feel traversing the world as a Christian, we know it is possible, that it can be done because we have read of men and women who endured through far more arduous conditions than we and yet, by the Grace of God, prevailed. We are comforted by the fact that not only did Jesus Christ overcome death and sin, but in addition to Jesus Christ, there are countless people we can turn to illuminate to us what is possible with God. Now, what does this have to do with what I began with? My answer is everything. Just as David, Paul, Mary, Moses are exemplars of how we live and move in faith and are evidence of God’s power and our obedience, the feats of others are the same. We celebrate with them as God blesses them, and at the appointed time, we will receive our blessing from God. Now, we don’t celebrate others for the sole purpose of speeding up our blessings because God knows our heart anyway, but we celebrate because we are genuinely happy for them and for what God has done in their lives.

I’ll finish with an example. An upperclassman I went to high school with recently got engaged and honestly, I’ve felt nothing but joy for her and her impending marriage. Not only because she and her fiance were a beautiful couple, but because marriage is a beautiful thing, especially when it occurs nowadays. I’m single and could’ve been bitter and jealous, which is just not me anyway, but I’m just in awe of their love and union. It’s a love I recognize from my parents, my grandparents, and the kind of love that I am overjoyed to know still exists today. She and her fiancé are further evidence of God’s goodness, of the existence of love despite what society says, and His ability to exceed even the very best of our expectations.

We see what others have or achieve and we envy them and lament what they possess because we’re viewing the image incorrectly. We’re perceiving what we are lacking and not God’s capacity.

It is that very attitude and perception that derails our blessings – the bitterness, entitlement, and woe is me mentality. They, like us, waited on God and endured and it is simply their time and when we align our will with God’s, exercise faithfulness, and are able to celebrate the accomplishments of our sisters and brothers, God can begin to do a work in us. But until then, we must remember that patience is a virtue and what James reminds us, which is to let patience have her perfect work that we may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.