That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord, he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

Being Asian, or maybe even just being humans, we have this disease of comparison. Comparison between us and another person that we deem better than us, be it in terms of looks, riches/material wealth, intelligence, charisma or basically anything that we nitpick about ourselves. Comparison comes from looking at our own selves and not being satisfied, evaluating who we are and saying, why am I this way? Look at so-and-so, her beauty/his smartness/her wealth/his personal relations skills, look at me and see how drab I am. How dumb I am. How ugly I am. How useless I am at entering a club and saying whaddup I got a big block. Of cheese. (Anyone get that reference to the song? No....? Nevermind. I'm pretty used to the sound of crickets in the background whenever I attempt to crack a joke. That's why I'd rather cracks eggs. Kidding. There goes the cricket sounds again.)

Back to the point. Do we even realise how blessed we are? I'm assuming that if you're reading this, you come from at least a middle-class income family. We aren't poor. We aren't starving. We aren't struggling to live day by day. But we continue to look at the many trivial things that we aren't getting, and covet them.

An hour ago, I was sitting at my study desk and looking at all the things I have to study for my upcoming exam. And because I'm honest, I'll let you know that I was grouching and feeling frustrated over the fact that there are just some people who hardly even need to try in their studies, but still manage to crank out straight A's. Yeah, there are several in my class, and I was pretty upset because, you know, it just isn't fair. But then came the heavenly kick from above and like a cloud of angelic bricks dropping on my head, and it occurred to me - Why do I even have the gall to compare? Who am I to look at God's creations, and in the same way look at what God Himself has decided to do, and actually question it? How big is my understanding, how much importance do I actually have, that I am telling Him that His logic is screwed up and that other person doesn't deserve it yet I somehow do? And yeah, God flicked my forehead and reminded me that I've got so much to be thankful for. I've been blessed by Him in His special way.

We've all been blessed in one way or another, some with a greater measure of a certain kind of blessing, and some with less, but God always, always blesses. We're just too caught up in our ways of comparison. Lets put aside all our covetousness and take an honest look at our lives. And be grateful for the person we have been made as. Realise that every good thing we have is a blessing.

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like the shifting shadows." (James 1:17)