My son Timmy loves potato chips. “Get it? Get it?” he will say hopefully, pointing to the bag on the counter.
The other day, I gave him several chips. He was happily eating them…for awhile, that is. His satisfaction with his snack came to a screeching halt when he realized that Jessica had chips too.
The minute he realized there were chips on her plate, he began doing everything he could think of to try to get to them. “No, Timmy,” I said. “You have your own chips.”
But Timmy was no longer impressed with his own snack. He climbed up onto a chair near Jessica and tried to climb onto the table. He reached for her chips. He asked for them. He screamed.
I went over to him, picked up one of his chips, and offered it to him. He clamped his mouth shut and turned away, so I backed off, at which point he immediately began demanding his sister’s chips again.
Ultimately, Timmy missed out on a snack because he wouldn’t eat his own chips, and I wouldn’t let him have his sister’s chips. He went hungry when there was a perfectly good plate of chips sitting right there in front of him—all because he couldn’t have what his sister was having.
Timmy’s attitude and actions that day remind me of us moms sometimes. We’re content with what we have in our own lives—our house, our car, our children—until we see somebody who has something “better”. Then we begin to pout, whine, and complain.
What she has is so much better than what I have, we tell ourselves. Why can’t I have it too?
And then we look back at our own lives, which seemed so satisfying just a moment ago, and suddenly, they’re not quite so satisfying anymore.
You’ve heard the saying, The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. It means that whatever someone else has always looks better. Unfortunately, this is often true. We fail to appreciate what we have because we’re too busy wanting what someone else has.
But oh, don’t belittle what you have just because someone else has more or “better”. Don’t look at the gifts God has specifically chosen for you and disparage them because they’re not what you would have picked out for yourself. God is far better at picking things out for you than you are. He knows what is best for you and ultimately what will be most satisfying—in other words, what will lead you to Him. If you don’t have what someone else has, there’s a reason. God knows it’s not in His plan for you—at least right now.
Is there something in your life today with which you’re dissatisfied? Is part of your dissatisfaction because you’re comparing what you have with what you think you could or should have?
Precious mom, trust God that what He has picked out for you is right for you. Then thank Him for it. True contentment is to be found in God alone, not in the things we possess. It’s Satan’s lie that you would be happier with the things someone else has.
Don’t believe him. Stick with the chips on your own plate.
James 1:17—Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. (ESV)
1 Timothy 6:6—Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment. (ESV)