Jealousy and Sticks

So I was driving Kamry home from camp yesterday when I got behind a minivan that had one of those stick figure families...a mom, a dad, three kids, and a dog.  I thought it was so sweet and cute. I can't wait to have a stick figure family on the back of my car.  Then I remembered a "funny" ecard I saw on Pinterest. It was that cat that has a really "blah" look on its face like it is frowning and it said something like "I hate your stick figure family."  It got me to thinking: Why do we do that?

Why do we put others down so quickly when they have something good?  Why do we make rude comments, ugly gestures, or say something to burst their bubble?  I hate, hate, hate those bumper stickers that say "My kid beat up your honor student!"  Why?  Because it is so mean.  You know that kid who is an honor student worked hard.  It is not easy being an honor student.  Many, many times just because you are an honor student, doesn't mean you are a genius.  It means you bust your butt.  To me, the family who has that bumper sticker is jealous.  And lazy.  They are too lazy to work with their kid to make them be the best they can be.  They pass on the idea of "lets bring others down to make ourselves feel better" to their children.

Philippians 2:3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

The only conclusion I can come up with is jealousy.  Jealousy, to me, is the most evil of all emotions.  Not because it hurts other people, but because it hurts our inner self.  Think about it...when I am jealous of that mom who can afford to buy her kids everything they want who does it hurt?  That woman?  No.  She doesn't even know I am making comments in my head.  It only upsets me in my heart.  I am the one now criticizing my faults as a mother.  (And I don't even believe in buying my kids everything they want.  Just the thought that I can't and others can makes me jealous.)  I am the one hurting myself.  We are so busy trying to bring others down instead of working on building ourselves up.

James 3:16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.

To combat this I am trying to do the only thing I know how.  I am appreciating.  I appreciate the stick figure family and that they are together.  I appreciate my true friends (both old and new) who have stuck by me through some pretty difficult times.  I appreciate my family and all they have done to love and support me through every disappointment I have given them.  And most of all I appreciate myself.  I can do so many things that I never realized were actually my talents.  Because when I think of talents I think of singing, playing the violin, or drawing.  But the actual definition of talent is the natural endowments of a person so it is not restricted to the arts.    Maybe if we all paid attention to our own talents America wouldn't be so hateful. 

I'm not saying that we have to be super sappy and love everybody.  I'm just staying let us not destroy the stick figure families.  Because we all know that it is the little sticks working together that make up the beautiful forest.