Beware of "The Watcher"

If earthly comparison was an evil creature, I could easily picture a sea creature like "The Watcher" from Lord of the Rings; octopus-like tentacles with fingers, a mouth that opens up larger than imagined, and a tenacious nature hard to kill.

Through my battles with comparison, I have seen relationships suffer deeply and my attitudes reflect my heart instead of Christ's character. Comparison reaches into the depths of our emotions, clouds our thoughts and tries to hide God's truth. If I'm not dwelling on truth, a Godly, talented person can "cause" me to become bitter, towards them or just my own actions. My desire is to become like Christ, so why do I think becoming more like someone else would make it more likely?

Because of this struggle, I found the following quote to be a blessing and wanted to pass it on to whoever might read this.

Elisabeth Elliot said: "My limitations become, in the sovereignty of God, gifts. For it is with the equipment that I have been given that I am to glorify God." (A Lamp for My Feet, p. 125) The Bible reference that this quote seems to picture is 1 Corinthians 12.