What is that to You?

So Peter seeing him said to Jesus, "Lord, and what about this man?"  Jesus said to him, "If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!" 

John 21:21-23

   < -------- Hi-eeeeeeeeeeee! Yep, it’s me - all excited and ready to get a cake decorated in class!  I had been anticipating it all week long to see what kind of “awwwww-ing” masterpiece I was going to be able to create - you know, the kind of masterpiece you want to show off and be proud of?  Well, my dream turned into a nightmare as I began taking my eyes off of what I was doing and looking over at a fellow classmate’s project.  Let me give you a little background on my fellow classmate…since day 1 of cake decorating class, and to be a little more specific “Wilton’s Decorating Basics” class (ahem, pay very close attention to the word “basics”), she has come in with pictures of some really amazing decorated cakes that she had done and did so well that I couldn’t understand why she was in “this” class - you know, the “basics” class.  The basics class is meant for lil’ ol’ people like me who know zilch about what they’re doing and need to be educated.  Anyways, very sweet lady and I have nothing personal against her (except the fact that her skills are better than mine – just kidding! Okay, no I’m not…just being real here, sorry :/ ) but I just can’t understand why she is in this class!  I wonder...does she travel around just for kicks and sign up for all of the Wilton’s Decorating Basics classes just to make other students feel crappy or what?  Is she like a secretive cake decorating villain with a passion to intimidate others to give up on their hopes and dreams of decorating cakes???!

So, getting back to my cake…everything started out great...really, it did!  My buddy, Lisa, made the fabulous red velvet cake and I made the cream cheese frosting.  The problem began though when the frosting didn’t crust fast enough to smooth it out and make the decorating more easy – the consistency should have been more thick – mistake #1.  Alas, as I waited for it to crust, my eyes started drifting over to Miss “Grade A” student aka “Cake Decorating Villain” and the praise she was receiving from the instructor – mistake #2.  Instead of keeping my eyes on what I was supposed to be doing I began to compare my project to hers thus getting intimidated and being concerned about her project.  Let me show you the results of that:  

                                                                

        Her masterpiece...                                                                                       

                     My disaster...

                            

I was soooooo disappointed and soooooo embarrassed I didn’t even want to be seen exiting Hobby Lobby with this in my hands!  What made it worse is when I dropped it off at my parent’s house (because I knew my brother would it eat)  and my mom thought my icing decoration on top was a fat man until I told her “No, mom, it’s a cupcake”.

So, I’m thinking things like: “ I’M A FAILURE!”  “Why can’t I have done a beautiful job like the other lady?” “How does she make it look so easy?”

Then, a man came to mind from the Bible by the name of Peter and a time when he was found comparing himself to someone else.  And what did Jesus say to him?... “What is that to you? You follow Me!”   So Jesus says to me “Don’t worry about the other person…don’t concern yourself with what they're doing – it’s none of your business! Don’t compare yourself or envy the outcome of someone else – you be focused on what I’ve called you to do.

It is so easy to get our focus on other people and what other people are doing and to start comparing our lives to theirs especially when it seems like their lives are more exciting, bigger, and better than ours.  Are you a stay at home mom comparing yourself to the successful, educated woman in the workforce? Are you one to compare your body to the model on the cover of a magazine? Are you a single person comparing yourself to your “happy” married friend’s life?  Are you a married person comparing yourself to your “happy” single friend’s life?  Are you comparing your house to someone else’s house?  Are you comparing your life trials with someone whose life seems uninterrupted by trials? - DON’T!  When we compare we begin thinking we’re failures; we get discouraged; envy and jealousy creep in; and, we try to be someone God didn’t create us to be.

God made only one me.  God made only one you.  He has a special, specific calling on each and every one of our lives.  Don’t waste time looking at and comparing yourself to every person around you…keep your eyes looking unto Jesus (Hebrews 12:2) and His perfect plan for you!

You can’t have your cake and eat it!   < --------See what I did there ;)