LOVE THIS!

I'm reading a book that Alison gave me for Christmas called "Toss the Guilt and Catch the Joy" by Merrilee Boyack. I'm only in Chapter 2 and already LOVE it. Two things really struck me. The first was a quote by Merrill Christensen who was speaking at a devotional at BYU about the truth behind comparisons.

He said " If we are content to simply be better than the world, comparing ourselves to its standards and practices instead of to the Lord's, we may pride ourselves on the widening gap between us and the world....At the same time [we are] dangerously oblivious to the increasing distance between us and the standards of righteousness we have covenanted to keep...
(This is my favorite part) Your value to Him is independent of your body mass index; your accomplishments in arts, academics, or athletics; your possessions, popularity, or marital status; your current calling in the Church; or any other thing that can be a source of comparison and competition. "

She goes on to quote C.S. Lewis a bit further in " Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man....It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest. Once the element of competition is gone, pride has gone."