A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones. -Proverbs‬ ‭14:30‬ ‭(NIV)

It always seems like everyone else on Facebook and social media are having a better life than you. They’re going to exotic places, eating food you’ve never had, smiling and laughing all the time, and not having any problems at all. You might think that your life is just terrible and misguided by comparison. It’s like you’re trudging through yet another desert, and they’re always in paradise.

In truth, what you’re seeing is an oasis in the desert, much like what you consume when you read or watch the news: you’re getting a curated collection of stories, carefully selected for consumption. It’s just a very small subset of all the stories of people’s lives.

What to do?

When you look at your social media feed, remind yourself that everyone who’s posted to it has chosen to share what you see. Likewise, you’re also choosing what to share and not share. Believe it or not, your life may seem like an oasis to others!

Most importantly, think twice about before you post. How would your post be read and received on the other end? Does what you post add any sort of value to their lives, and/or in some way lift them up? And, is what you’re posting making God known and glorified?

I can honestly say that I haven’t thought enough about those questions before making some posts. But I certainly do make more of an effort to be more conscientious as I go.

Just remember: the grass may seem greener in that social media oasis on the screen before you, but it’s all a curated illusion. Our green grass, our peace, is found within us, hard won through the blood of Christ.

Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all! -Romans 12:16 (NLT)

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. -James 4:1-2 (NIV)

One of my favorite stories from Dr. Seuss is “The Sneetches.” It is, like other Dr. Seuss stories, packed with insight on human nature, in just a few pages, and with great illustrations and wordplay.

So, the Sneetches are fictional animals that look a lot like walking summer squash (the heavy side down), with beaks kind of like ducks. And, like all Dr. Seuss characters, they have expressive eyes with eyelashes to convey emotion. They socialize on the beach, but only with others possessing similar attributes.

A very familiar tale

As the story goes, some of the Sneetches have stars on their bellies (the star-bellied ones), and others had “none upon thars” (the plain-bellied sneetches). The star-bellied Sneetches turned up their noses at the plain-bellied Sneetches, who moped and envied their star-bellied cousins. Year after year, the haves would exclude and look down at the have nots. It was the perfect storm of discrimination, resentment, self-exaltation, and rejection.

Enter the tempter

One day, a salesman named Sylvester McMonkey McBean came to the beach, and he saw the situation. He told the plain-bellied Sneetches that he was known as the Fix-It-Up Chappie, who could create a Star-On machine that would affix stars on their bellies…if they’d pay for it.

Of course, they did, and then all the Sneetches looked alike! The newly-minted star-bellied Sneetches told the original star-bellied Sneetches that they could no longer be excluded, since they were all the same!

The lure of exclusivity

McBean then goes to the original star-bellied Sneetches and lets them know he can make a Star-Off machine to remove their stars, since stars are out of style…if they’d pay for it.

Of course, they did, and now the plain-bellied Sneetches felt superior to the star-bellied ones!

The escalation

Neither group wanted to be excluded, so they kept paying their money to McBean, going into one machine to remove their stars, and then to the next machine to add their stars when they saw the others had stars! Finally, they ran out of money. McBean left in amusement with a huge pile of money, saying “you can’t teach a Sneetch.”

Brokenness and enlightenment

But oh, McBean was wrong. When the Sneetches had nothing left, they could look at each other–whether or not they had stars upon thars–and see that no one was better than the other. They learned to live in peace and harmony.

Are we Sneetches?

Is our life here on earth no different? Satan wants us to believe we have to have this or that, and having something makes you someone…better than another. And many Christians fall into that trap as well.

The truth is: We have the love of God, Who gave His son so we may have everlasting life (John 3:16). He loves us so much that He calls us Children of God (1 John 3:1). He provides for us all we need, which obliterates our worry (Matthew 6:25-34).

We are called to love one another as God loves us (John 15:12). We are called to make Him known to the ends of the earth, and He is with us always (Matthew 28:16-20).

We have it all. Let’s live like it!

Comparison is the thief of joy. -Theodore Roosevelt

There’s only one in this wonderful world / You are special. -Fred Rogers

We’ve all been there, where we feel less than others, or undeserving, or inconsequential.

For years…for decades…I’ve striven and performed for appreciation and affection. I’ve tried to earn love and respect. From my childhood, I was conditioned to work for approval…and even then, I didn’t always get it. But to me, that meant I had to try harder.

To some extent, society tells you that you have to earn these things. These are worldly ways of thinking, and they inflict massive emotional damage on the ones who believe it. It’s so toxic and insidious that it seemingly runs in your blood, becoming part of you. You believe it so much that you don’t even realize it. It becomes part of your world view.

Self-worth seemed to be tied to who cared enough for you…at least if you acted the right way. It seemed to be tied to what things I possessed. Neither ever satisfied.

Then, He woke me up.

At 40 years of age, God decided I was ready to wake up. He pulled the wool off my eyes…and I was aghast at the terrible world around me, but also slowly started to learn in my heart how absolutely and unconditionally loved I was. That I didn’t have to, nor could ever, earn His love…but that it was given freely to me, and was more than I could ever expect. More than any person could ever give me.

I also learned that He made us unique, each with a purpose to fulfill in this world. Each of us is His masterpiece to carry His light to the corners of the earth. And that is a healing light, to bring love into the darkest corners, to dispel the shadows and lies the enemy envelops people in.

Once you see the light, you never want to return to the shadow.

You are covered in His fingerprints

Embrace, to the smallest detail, everything that God has created in you. Don’t put yourself down or be ashamed of any part of you. He fashioned you perfectly in His image, and to go forth so the world would see Him in you. You are covered in the fingerprints of the Potter. How could you be anything less than priceless, when He made you in His image?

Today’s soundtrack

Steven Curtis Chapman’s “Fingerprints of God” reminds us that what the world tells us is not at all what God has made in us.