One of the greatest things about our American lifestyle is its permission to compete. Freedom has its pitfalls, but we nearly take for granted the fact that who we become and what we attain are mostly up to our own effort and choices made along the way.
However, there is a zone in which competition is deadly and defeating. That is, the place in our minds where the voices cry, "You are not enough."
Is that voice our own? I don't think we begin with that voice. Out of the womb, we are simply beautiful and enough and fearfully and wonderfully made.
But then the real competition begins. We are surrounded by defeating comments, advertising perfection, the meanness of fellow little girls, all trying to carve out self-edification by tearing down each other.
What a vicious world little girls navigate. Adolescence adds its filter of doubt in self and then love enters the picture with all its immaturity, misplaced passion, and inevitable hurt.
Adulthood for women is spent exhausting ourselves for others and still comparing who we are with other women. All of this spells a lifetime of competition that can be overwhelming and certainly a zone of defeat.
Is there a warm, safe place to recover? The only truly accurate mirror that I know to look in to find our real worth is simply pursuing who Jesus is and finding through Him the incredible love of the One who made us.
We find, amazingly, that we are unique to everyone else. Each one of us is her own template, orginal, gifted and significant to God.
So, said on the flip side, the real defeat of competition is believing that we no longer need to compete with each other. Let's defeat the competition that is trying to defeat us.
