I'm not sure exactly how old my friend Jake is, but I'm sure he's got at least eight decades under his belt. Even so, last week when Jake first started talking about snowflakes, I admit I was wondering, "where's he going with all this?" Jake was talking about the creativity of God, and how every snowflake is different. They tell you that in first grade, so I wasn't exactly blown away. But then Jake began to make his point. If God cares enough and is creative enough to make the insignificant snowflakes all different, then how much care has gone into each and every human being?
Now he had my attention. And then he came with this idea -- if each and every human being is so intricately, uniquely, and carefully created, how foolish is it to evaluate anything about us by comparing ourselves to others? Whether we come out on the better end of the deal or not, these comparisons can all too easily provide us with faulty feedback about our ability and adequacy.
Don't misunderstand me. I'm not anti-competition. But what should be the real purpose of competition? Is it for me to beat the other guy? Or is it for both of us to push each other to the highest possible level?
In sports and in life, I can't get caught up in how well I'm doing in comparison to anyone else. That's a recipe for a miserable existence. I need to compete with myself in whatever I do, looking at who I used to be and who I am working to become. If that happens to put me above or below other people on some scale, which it invariably will, I have to live with that.
Coach John Wooden, whose teams won 10 national titles in 12 years, knew something about winning and success. His personal definition of success, begins with the words "peace of mind", and says nothing about defeating opponents. Coach Wooden's entire definition involves comparing myself to no one other than myself. Sounds like good advice.
80's Lyric (close enough, yet again)
Nothing comparesNothing compares to you- Sinead O'Connor (1990)
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