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I saw a Facebook post today from one of my social media friends about opportunities. Of course, they didn't use the word "opportunity" when expressing their opinion. And that's okay. The world is filled with different perspectives and different conclusions to the events that happen in the world.
But, her post got me thinking, and it's something I've thought about a lot in my life. And since I've thought about it so much, I imagine most others have too. I think about it when I get passed over for a promotion or a raise. I think about it when I see others progress in their lives and I don't feel I have.
In short, I think about it when I compare myself to others.
Why do we always compare ourselves to those who earn more, have more things, look better, run faster, have bigger homes, fancier cars, cuter kids (okay--I don't compare myself to them, because they can't compare to mine...), to those who get all the breaks and have none of the problems?
Why don't we compare ourselves to those less fortunate, who have less, who make less, who get even fewer breaks than ourselves? The answer is because it's easy to feel sorry for ourselves. It's easy to think there's a dark cloud residing directly over our heads. And things get really ugly when we blame others for the unfairness of life. There will always be those more talented, more fortunate than you. And if that's true, then there will always be those less talented and less fortunate than you.
Maybe it's because it was Sunday, but as these thoughts swam in my brain today, I thought of Christ's Parable of the Talents. Perhaps you know the story. Three men were given talents. One got many, one got some and one got very few. Two of the men worked hard and increased their talents, but the one who was given only one was ashamed and hid his talent from the world.
I've learned so much from this story.
I've learned that some are given much and some are given little, but all are given some. I've learned that we all have opportunities if we will but take advantage of them. Most importantly, I've learned that God did not make a perfect world and he made all of us imperfect as well--imperfect beings living in an unfair existence. What I need to do now is stop comparing myself to others, stop blaming others when life doesn't go my way. Then maybe I'll see all those talents/opportunities I've been given and realize I've got a lot of work to do.
* Photo taken from the following website: https://www.lds.org/manual/print/new-testament-stories/chapter-48-the-talents?lang=eng
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