I had to go back and reread paragraph two 4 or 5 times.  For some reason my brain kept putting a waterfall in there, yet somehow my eyes knew it wasn't there.  (Most people will think I'm joking here.  I'm not.)

I'll probably have more to comment on later. 

Let’s just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren’t.

Romans 12:6 (The Message)
I love the way this puts it... It makes you realize that we were made us for a certain purpose. When we begin to compare ourselves to others it is almost as if we aren't sure if God knew what He was doing. (In a sense...) But by trying to be like someone else or be something that we are not...It is exactly that:trying! We can only be ourselves no matter how hard we try to be someone else...But like you said, Mike, why is it that we still try sometimes...Or not even always try, but think about it even?...
Well, I can't answer that but I can say that the sooner we realize who we were meant to be, and accept that-the better... Not only physically, but emotionally, and most importantly-spiritually.
God blessed us with our own individual gifts, talents, and abilities. Just like a father, no matter how different each of his kids are, or how much more or less talented one is that the other. No matter how different His relationship is with each of them...
He loves them just the same...
(kinda went off on my own little spill, sorry about that.)
But, Thanks Mike... I really needed this.   :-)

This is one of the primary reasons people don't get involved in ministry, in my opinion.  "I could never talk in front of a group of people like so-and-so" or "I don't have as much time to volunteer as so-and-so"  etc, etc.  We're not supposed to minister like so-and-so.  God already made a so-and-so to do that job!  If we'd simply have willing hearts and wait for God's leadership on the balls of our feet, ready to move, He'll point us in the right direction.  If we all looked to the Word and just did what it said instead of comparing our potential to the actions of others (yes, I'm guilty of the same thing), Jesus would be dripping all over everything!  Thanks for the reminder, Mike!

I've always thought comparing myself to others is like comparing apples and oranges.

Of course, I seem to find myself comparing to others in attitude a lot.  I'm glad Jesus is there to guide and help me overcome.

Mike n Laura,

We should never compare ourselves to others in order to determine how much better or spiritual (than they) we are, or we are becoming.  We should not develop a competitive spirit with our brothers and sisters, because we all grow at a different pace, and anyway, “comparing” us to another Christian could be misleading, frustrating, and some times condescending. 

Now…I strongly believe we can “imitate” those who are fruitful and crucify themselves with Christ daily.  Like Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11:1  And you should imitate me, just as I imitate Christ.

You see, I am a strong believer in the power of fellowship, mentorship, and learning by example.  Who’s example?  The example of Christ I see in the life of a believer.  I learn to walk along this road with the help of God through His Spirit, His Word, and His children.  So… I think we should look at those who follow Christ and learn from them and imitate the goodness in them.  This is my humble opinion ;-)

I think I've been lucky.  (And by that, I think I've been blessed with strong guidance by the Holy Spirit.)  When I see a Christian who is, for example, having amazing experiences talking to people he passes in the street about God, and I look at myself who does not do this, rather than be discouraged, I am encouraged!  I'm not exactly sure why (except that it's gotta be the Holy Spirit).

Again:  I tend to focus on the positive things people do "better" than me (a value judgement based on the absolute standard Word of God) and draw encouragement from that.  Drawing from Matt 7 (which does outline a good kind of judgement/comparison), I tend to ignore the negatives if I share them too (comparison).  If I don't (comparison), I may privately encourage them in their sin.

I can't say I've ever been discouraged by another's righteous acts.  To those that are, I can only thank the Holy Spirit; you might want to ask Him for assistance in this area.

Great Reminder to keep Our Eyes on Jesus Christ the Lord. Excellent post Mike.

Thanks.

Walk in the Light as He (Jesus) is in the Light....

Mentors are great too, but even they are fallible and have limits

This was the other line that had struck me when I read this earlier but didn't have time to follow up on.  Mentors definitely are not perfect (nor is anyone).  But true mentors aren't there to say "how refined they are", but "how can I help you refine yourself"? 

Manatee..... They are cute creatures !!!!!

Isn't it possible to get wrapped up in comparing yourself with someone who is mentoring you, wondering how you measure up to them rather than Christ? 

It's possible to do that with anyone, including Christ.   I'm almost as perfect as Him you know. ;)

Two things along these lines.

1) I've said this before, but I always think "doubting" Thomas  got shafted.  Most people you talk to are not interested in being like him because he "screwed" up.  Yet if you look at how his life ended up, he died for his Lord just as the others did.  And on the flip side you have Peter & John who are spending all this time with the Lord, because they obviously had all their stuff together.  (If that's what you think you better reread the Gospel accounts).  I've heard a sermon that said the reason they spent all that time with Jesus is because they were the ones that needed the guiding the most.  The point is we can learn from anyone.

2) *deleted*.  I'm not feeling like going down the path #2 would have taken me at the moment.

Mike.  Look right above the picture at your comment.

You went with "mentee" Cathy went with manantee.  None of which should be confused with  

All this talk about Stress, Arguing and Lions (oh my!) probably isn't helping (with the killing thing).  Wait the lions should be first.  You aren't feeling motivated to do a blog on burdens one bears, are you?  Although this might be close enough just so you don't have to push yourself any further.

Can someone help me extract my tongue from my cheek now?

Unfortunately I've been swamped (ok going for the alligator was a bit of a stretch) lately and everything has been spinning by out of control and I haven't really had much of a chance to read, so no I didn't notice lots of lions (well OK, maybe I noticed this one too).  (Linking to a blog twice is as close as I can come to the two star thing).

As soon as I get things put back together with ye olde fastener of choice, which will probably be after the next wedding I have to go, or after my sister-in-law has her baby (Yes my wife really did have a conversation with her today that contained the phrase, 'I hope my child is as good as yours as long as it doesn't drool as much as yours') or after the kids come home from camp and Grandma's maybe I'll have time to sit back, drink some java, and read and write again.  Or maybe it will be time to come over for dinner.  Then again... maybe not.  At this moment I'm really longing for boring moments when there are moments of sheer boredom.  It's day like this when I reminisce back to the old days when I was just thirteen.

So if you don't see me around as much, don't think I've taken my ball and gone home.  Because that's simply not the case.   Just be happy! (Don't Worry, Be Happy) I find enough time to go to church, and am usually on time!  And to boot I sit in my assigned seat, with the rest of the clique.

Good thing, I can't sleep or I'd never find all that time to get things done.  And look at that.  I've made it all the way through this comment without plugging any of my stuff.  Makes me feel good (and like this wasn't a walk in the park) and maybe just maybe I should go and spend some time with my Lord and be still (oops).

P.S. While hopefully this was a joy for all and has to be close to a new record, and take generations for some to read, at some point this probably should go into the blog guidelines as something not to do.  Assuming you believe in rules (oops squared) around here.  And yeah I mean either here or here.

P.S.2. Yes this type of thing drives my perfect wife insane, but we're still married (although we're at 13 years) even with our differences! 

P.S.3. Sorry don't own one.  But I like the Wii!!!   (oops to the third?) 

Some people have much too much time on their hands.... No names, of course!

 :D

Maniacly?  And really this wasn't as bad as it seemed.  My brain naturally does links.  So I wrote the paragraphs and went back and tracked down the links.  Occasionally I saw a link while doing so that I figured needed to be in here and so I added a line or two.  I probably did spend an hour on it and it was probably an hour I didn't have. 

Voice's links were probably the hardest to track down because the two olders ones that I wanted I didn't star the first time through and he puts out a lot of content.  Especially the thirteen one as when I did a search here on "thirteen" it didn't find them because apparently Search ignores titles.

I think I should have done a couple more outside plugs though (I have the two).  And I really think I'm spending more time on this followup comment than I want as well.