Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Love does not envy...




1 Corinthians 13 - "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy..."


Ahh, 1 Corinthians chapter 13! The infamous "Love" chapter. The chapter in the Bible that every woman fears most, with the possible exception of Proverbs 31 (::wink::)


We read these requirements of love and think "What?! I have to be patient all the time? And KIND? And I can't be jealous of my co-worker's size 2 waist or my neighbors brand new Prada bag? This is impossible!"


Thankfully, nothing is impossible with God. =)


But I digress.


Envy is a potential problem in every person's life, man or woman, young or old. When my husband and I were dating in high school, I was jealous a lot. He was the fun, life-of-the-party guy who innocently talked to everyone, and usually remained pretty oblivious to when he accidentally crossed over into flirting-territory. I was the quiet, observant, one-on-one conversation girl who preferred staying in the background with the Diet Coke. and noticing when her man crossed that line. We had many an argument over that subject until one day, after his being "nice" and "encouraging" to a girl at youth camp ended up with her sending border-line stalking emails, he figured it out.


Again with the digressing...Oops!


Everyone gets jealous. Over love, over jobs, careers, money, material items, etc. As authors, its especially hard. We're always comparing ourselves to other authors. Who landed the most coveted agent, who received the most contracts, who had the most sales, who had the best booksigning party, etc. If we're not careful, the comparison game can consume us and we'll lose sight of why we're doing this in the first place--for God.


The green-eyed monster can pop up for anyone, anytime, anywhere. You are not immune to his slimy stickiness. Don't be fooled by his picture. The patchwork is cute and the googly eye seems harmless enough, but he's out to get you, and he has well-practiced tricks!


Next time you find that envious little monster pointing his finger in your direction, don't panic. Who ya gonna call? (no, not ghostbusters!) I'll give you a hint...His name is two paragraphs up. =)


That's right - God. The best way to beat jealousy is by praying. One sincere, heartfelt prayer and that green-eyed monster goes scooting back to where he came from. You can beat him, if you stay close to the Lord and realize your worth comes from Him, and Him alone - not from a new car, designer clothing...or even the hot new guy at church =P

8 comments:

  1. I love the green eyed monster. So cute but envy isn't.
    Thanks for the post, Betsy Ann.
    Margaret

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  2. Yup, the green-eyed monster is perfect. And, envy (shudder). I work on this a lot because I do envy... I know I do... and sometimes what I envy (How comes SHE gets to write 108 books a year! LOL) is just plain ridiculous (busy reading HER book 103 and loving it - no wonder SHE gets to write 108 a year).
    Anyhoo, welcome to the Craftie ladies and really enjoyed your first post.

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  3. Nice post, Betsy Ann.

    AND...

    My first book that I loved was Understood Betsy, by Dorothy Canfield, a wonderful story of a pampered little girl who had to live with her country cousins out of necessity and learned to stand on her own two feet.

    I treasure the lessons of that book still and it lives on my bookshelves for all to see, much to the dismay of my children who (dare I say this???) did NOT get pampered. If they'd understood things earlier in life, they'd have burned the book, LOL!.

    Envy is such a downer. Such a waste of time, but so easy to fall into.

    And those size two pants???

    Highly indecent. Just wrong, wrong, wrong!

    Just sayin'.

    Ruthy

    My word verification is "winsize"... Coincidence??? I think not!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Cute post, Betsy! We're so glad you joined us on the blog!

    Envy is such an ugly thing. I know some people dating may think it's cute when their boyfriend or girlfriend gets jealous. But it can really turn into a problem (like the stalker emails you mentioned!). It's not cute. And it's not a basis for true love. True love does not envy!

    Ruthy, thanks for stopping by! Now that your secret is out, I'm going to tell your kids about that book, so beware... :)

    Missy

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  5. I meant to say Betsy Ann! (Unless you go by Betsy usually??)

    :)

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  6. Wonderful post, Betsy. Envy is such a subtle character, sometimes it's throttling me before I know it. Then I have to beat it down with the truth of Scripture.

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  7. Thanks ladies!

    And Missy, I go by Betsy in most cases. But its okay either way. =)

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  8. LOVE the graphic for this post! Too cute.

    Great post too! Thanks for being so transparent, Betsy.

    Hugs
    Cheryl

    ReplyDelete

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