Wise Words

Why is it that at one moment I can be perfectly content, and yet in the next breath I'm wishing for something else?  I joke that I want multiple lives to live, but on some level I'm serious.  I want the one I have right now, then one to be a designer, another one to be a stay-at-home mom, one to try my hand at being a working mom, one to live in the country,  another to live in the city... you catch my drift.  I'm like a kid with shiny objects.  Focus is not a gift I possess.

And then today, a girlfriend and I were ooh-ing and ahh-ing over another friend's new house.  It's absolutely adorable, in that historic-and-charming-meets-modern-Anthropolgie-chic kind of way.  There's even an honest to goodness dinner bell off the back porch!

While I'm happy for her, I instantly felt a pang of jealousy.  Now I want a house with more character { and maybe a claw-footed tub }.  But just three years ago, when I bought the townhouse that Spencer and I now share, it was more than I'd ever dreamed of.  It's still more space than we truly need and can use on a regular basis.  So what is my deal?  We technically have two homes right now! { Anyone want to buy a cute condo in Vinings? }

Ugh.  Why do I do this?  It always has one of two outcomes.  I'm either left feeling superior { nice in the short-term, but pride comes before the fall.  No thanks. }, or suddenly I'm discontent with what was once more than enough.  Dangerous territory.

Some of the wisest words I've ever heard on the subject were first spoken to me by a colleague:

I don't know about you,  but I'm not interested in having my joy stolen.  I like the life I've been given. : )

“Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that... don't compare yourself with others." { Galatians 6:4, The Message }