Don’t compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life. – Galatians 6:5 (The Message)

One of the most irritating sentences ever expressed by a parent is, “Sylvia always looks so nice when she goes to school. Why can’t you at least brush your hair?” Forget the fact that Sylvia crowds in at the head of the lunch line every day, copies her test answers from the person sitting next to her, and cusses like a sailor! Forget the fact that I inherited Mom’s hair that sticks out all over my head like a broom in a windstorm!

So many of us grew up with parental expectations. Either we were expected to behave like miniature adults when we were three or we were expected to rebel against everything we came across. When we’re with older people who are important in the community, we’re supposed to pay attention to them and agree with everything they say.  When we’re with people our own age, we’re supposed to pretend that we were all best friends (whether we were or not). When we’re with younger people, we’re supposed to be “hip” and understand what they’re talking about. When do we get to “let our hair down” and be who we are—not who someone expects us to be?

There are a couple of comments in this verse that I particularly like: “Don’t compare yourself with others;” and “Take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life.” 

No two people have the same experiences or reactions to the same experiences—not even children of multiple births. We are each our own person with our own experiences and our own reaction to experiences. Even before birth, twins, triplets, or octuplets will each react differently to the environment. Some fetuses are more active while some sleep the time away. Some develop more quickly than others.

We may do some of the same things. Our experiences may be similar, but they aren’t the same. I think we need to learn who we are in our experiences. Are we bossy, knowing how everything should progress forward? Then we need to take charge. Are we recordkeepers, tracking the data of our lives? Then we need to get a good accounting system. Talkers need to talk, and thinkers need to think.

The second part that I really like is the “being the creative best that we can with our lives.” It would be nice if we all came with operating instructions: “In case of a stuffy nose, breathe in mentholated steam for 15 minutes”; or “in case of feeling overwhelmed, take a week’s vacation to the mountains (or the beach, or a log cabin in the country)”.  Nobody knows what they’re doing at any given time. We’re all doing the best we can with what we have. Sometimes I think we need to cut ourselves a little slack and be glad we got as far as we did! It’s a thought! 

Becky Gillette is a former teacher, newspaper reporter, and preacher who seeks to take an original approach to life’s lessons. She has recently published her first book, Jessie’s Corner: Something To Think About, which is now available for purchase. Based on several lesser-known scriptures from the Bible, this is a collection of articles which she wrote for a weekly newspaper.