Since this blog site has been titled ChristiansRead, I’m guessing most readers here either like to read, like to write, like to edit, or just need connections with other Christians. We are likely from a great assortment of Christian denominations, and I think many of us had decided not to allow denominationalism to separate us. I love that kind of group.

I come from a Baptist background but I have wonderful friends in every category, and have found that we can speak the same language–that of our love for Christ.

We all have the Bible in common. So there’s a verse or three that I believe we can agree on. I Corinthians 13:4 states: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

I’m focusing on envy part of the verse today. Those of us who are writers might be able to identify. For instance, I have had the great opportunity to work with Kristin Billerbeck on her soon-to-be-released novel, Room at the Top. It’s a very intelligently written book with such a smooth flow, exquisite insight, and laugh-out-loud humor that if I were to be the envious type–which I am not, of course, being the mature Christian that I am–I might have been tempted to hate her.

But that would be like the columbine in the picture above being envious of the iris. Or the onion bloom (or is that garlic? I think it’s garlic) being jealous of either. It would also be a sin because envying another writer would be disrespecting the talent God gave me specifically.

God gave us different gifts, different lives. I don’t envy the beautiful, slender, happy woman I meet at the grocery store, because envying her would mean I would want to BE her. Why would I ever want to be anyone else? Am I ready to take on the losses, the pain, the tragedies that person might have enduring in her life?

Envy has always seemed like poorly expended energy to me. Spending any time at all wishing you were someone else, or had someone else’s talents, instead of working on your own life and talents, is a waste. And if nothing else, I’m simply too lazy to do that. I have enough to worry about as I write my own stories, live my own life, manage my own joys and losses. If I spend any time wishing I was someone else, I’d lose the blessings God has in store for my life.

Is there someone you envy today? Honestly? Do you REALLY want to BE that person?