Thievery

Have you ever heard that quote? It's an excellent quote. 

To me it means that when I compare what I have to what others have (or, more accurately, when I envy someone who has more than me) I end up stealing the joy from myself. 

I was recently reminded of how much I have when I attended Crossroad's 25th anniversary this past weekend and saw so many people that have been a part of my life and that have enriched my life in ways difficult to understand until now. THAT is a cool thing. 

I was reminded of how much I have when all the pastors whose churches have their origins at Crossroads got on stage to talk about how much they have received; everything from financial support and encouragement to people coming up to help out and volunteer. I know that we've been blessed with that from Crossroads and that we would not be where we are today if not for them.

It was encouraging to see people who are at different stages of the church planting experience and to hear from those guys where they came from and where they are now.

Most of the time when I steal my own joy through comparison, it's not even with anyone real. More than likely I am comparing where I am now to where I think I should be at this stage in life, or at this stage in our church, or at this stage in my finances, or any of a hundred other things. We always hear how important it is not to envy others, but it's so much easier to envy the people we think we should be. 

But, very rarely, comparison can boost the spirits. This happens to me when I compare my own life now to my life in certain points of my past. This church re-planting experience has had such an impact on my life that I never expected. I mean, sure, I expected to be doing life with people I love, working for something that is important to me, and doing something to which I can justify giving a lifetime, but I guess I didn't expect to be getting so much out of it. I expected to be giving so much more than receiving. 

Not that we're "rolling in dough" as the cool kids say...

They... they don't say that. I don't think anyone cool has ever said that ever.

Whatever... 

The point is that we have plenty and God continues to bless us with more. 

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A Note on Quotes

Quotes are awesome. I know someone who ends each of her blog posts with a quote from a famous person, and quite often that is the thing that ties it all together. A good quote is like a wise dissertation boiled down into one sentence. 

But when quotes go bad...