Last week, I guest posted on the American Christian Fiction Writers blog. I forgot to link to it here on my blog, and it’s a post that really came from my heart: it’s about jealousy…and how to choose joy instead. So, I thought I’d direct you to it today. You can come back here to comment or leave a comment there if you’d prefer.
The cool thing is, the topic of jealousy and joy doesn’t just apply to my writing life, but my life as a whole.
Here’s a snippet from the post:
I’m pretty sure we’ve all been there. It’s that emotion no one wants to feel, because it makes us feel icky inside. Plus, only terrible people have such tendencies, right? Unfortunately, no. As a writer, it’s a feeling that will most likely strike at some point in your career.
Jealousy.
I was recently doing a Beth Moore Bible study on King David and one lesson focused on jealousy — specifically, that which King Saul had toward David. Beth pointed something out that really struck me. She said that jealousy initially coms because we perceive a threat — and from that threat comes fear, which leads to jealousy.
It make sense, right? When a guy is dating a girl and she’s friends with another guy, it’s easy for the boyfriend to become jealous. But why? Because he perceives that other male as a threat, and he fears his girlfriend leaving him for this other dude.
But even more than that, he fears that in comparison — at the core of who he is — he isn’t enough.
Click here to read the entire post and share your thoughts!
I much prefer being joyful to being jealous! Great post, Lindsay!
Glad you re-posted this. I think I somehow missed it last week. I agree with Jill–being joyful is so much better than being jealous. 🙂
Great post, Linz. Yes, I've dealt with jealousy—both in the writing life and life in general. When my eyes are on what someone else seems to have that I feel like I lack, those are the times when I tend to struggle with jealousy. In the end, I always come back to the truth that God has given me the giftings He has, to the degree that He has, for a reason. Usually, it's so that I will draw closer to Him, that I will find contentment in Him and I will remember He is enough. 🙂