SadhanaOriental Meditation and Christian Prayer
Contemplation in action
ーIn relation with othersー
[24] Focusing on our own path without comparing ourselves with others
Living in close association with God deepens and enriches our conversation with God. God always relates to us.
We summon up faith and try to enter a relationship with God. And we try to respond to God’s invitation as much as we can.
God wants to relate to us entirely.
But for us humans, the biggest concern is the eyes and life of others. “He is a great person while I am not.” “He looks miserable but I look attractive.” “I can do it much better.” We have a strong tendency to compare ourselves with others. And such an idea comes before we are conscious about it.
We try to focus on God’s “wish” and “request,” asking his support so that we can avoid such persistent tendency.
It is actually meaningless to compare ourselves with others.
When we compare ourselves with others, we become narrow-minded. We are a truly deep and rich existence, and others are also truly deep and rich. We cannot appropriately find deep and rich nature in each other by simple comparison. (When we can learn from the way others handle things and how they live, that should be based on careful and thorough consideration instead of superficial comparisons.)
Temptation to compare ourselves with others hinders us from attaining a lively relationship with God. It creates unrest, making us wish to feel a sense of superiority to others or lament over lost glory. It is nothing but deviating from a path of steady communicating with God.
As mentioned above, we try to relate with God, who relates to us deeply and fully. Therefore, we should deliver to God the fullest possible self. We should not allow ourselves to have a mentality to compare ourselves with others.
God is pleased with what we are now. He says, “My grace is sufficient for you.” Therefore, we live in satisfaction while fully cherishing what is given. And we try to focus on our path with God. We try to carefully and thoroughly follow quiet invitation and call of God, who tries to connect to our heart. God often responds to us warmly through “kindling,” “comfort / encouragement,” and the “fruit of the Spirit.” Taking the above approach, we can meet God in our daily lives.