On My Own Time

Photo by Agê Barros on Unsplash

I am running my own race and following my spiritual formation path. Comparisons are suitable to a limit; they are dangerous and definitively not necessary.

Well, it is not really all my own; I belong to Him, and I live my life now in function of His Person & Work. So He, in His humanity, is the only measurement I must pay close attention to. 

Comparisons can be beneficial if done correctly. If not, they can drag us toward envy and bitterness. It is a downward spiral: the more we compare ourselves to others in the wrong way, the farther down we go with jealousy and resentment, the farther we move away from what we are supposed to do.

To avoid this path, I must be certain (know, believe, act) that the course the LORD has set before I is only for me to run. It is my own formation, my own discipleship. These are my own victories and defeats, my own sorrows and delights. And I must run it on my own time. While running their own path, things may happen to others at different moments; that is no indication of my timing.

Now, here comes the paradox: it is not entirely mine! It is the LORD's. My spiritual formation process also intersects with others, each other being mutually affected.

-AV