THE MENACE OF COMPARISON
BY
PETER M. I. PETERS
Nobody is better than you. You are as important as anyone else. God loves all of us equally. Learn to appreciate yourself. One of my pastors, Rev. Praise Tete, will always say: “I like my size, I like my complexion, I like the way I do my things, etc”. Always tell yourself these words. Each of us has a different calling in life, you don’t need to be like another person or copy anyone else’s success. You can look at their success and encourage yourself, only then will you be able to fulfil your vision and purpose in life. Believe in yourself and in God’s help and not on what others do, neither on what they are nor on what they have.
Consider this illustration of four individuals with different callings or purpose in life: Mr. A. was called into buying and selling of electronics in Kaduna State, through this business, he will bless his generation richly, Mr. B. is to be a writer and a teacher, he is called to be a preacher and to reach out to sinners in Jos – Plateau State with the word of God through his books and teachings, Mr. C. is to sell food items in large quantities, he will become rich enough to sponsor some orphans in his area to school and his location is Abuja FCT, while Mr. D. is a talented singer, and should reside in Lagos State.
Now Mr. A. and Mr. D. discover their calling and their locations earlier in life and are walking in line with it, in less than two years they made huge progress. When Mr. C. came across Mr. A. around July 1991 in a seminar held in Kaduna, at the Women Multi – Purpose hall. Seeing the kind of success the man is making, he became envious and went into electronic business also, ignoring his own calling and purpose in life. He stayed in the business for ten years and yet could not make the kind of success Mr. A. had made in less than two years. With the help of a book he red titled: Understanding your Potential by Myles Monroe; Mr. C. discovered that for the past ten years he had been on the wrong business and on the wrong location. Wow! Those were wasted years, and now he has to go back to his original calling, purpose and location and start all over again.
Mr. B. on the other hand Considered Mr. D. to be his role model, he likes the guy’s music and the progress the guy is making in the music industry; Mr. D. is all over the TV, Magazines, etc. and so Mr. B. wanting to be famous as Mr. D. went into music production, ignoring his purpose, his ability and calling, which is to be a writer and a teacher in Jos – Plateau State. He made no progress, but wasted many years trying to be like Mr. D.
The bottom line – don’t try to be like anyone else, be who you are meant to be! Never walk in anyone’s shadow; it is better to fall at doing something than to excel at doing nothing. So get up and try something, if you fail, try it again.
COMPARISON – the representing of one person as similar to or like another. (Merriam Webster Dictionary)
