Grace and peace, church family.

Last weekend, I had the joy of being with our Church at Woodforest community, the first church plant of The Woodlands Methodist Church. It was a gift to worship together on Pentecost Sunday, remember the anniversary of John Wesley’s “strangely warmed” heart, and wrap up their sermon series on the seven deadly sins with a message on envy.

One of the illustrations I shared was of a high school football coach who handed each football player a potato at the beginning of the season. He explained that their potato represented them and instructed them to write on it the name of a person they envied. It could be the name of someone who had talents they lacked or a lifestyle they desired. Then he said, “Put it in your locker. We’ll come back to it later.”

Seven weeks passed.

By then, you can imagine what those potatoes looked and smelled like after sitting in a hot football locker room. Rotten. Decaying. And hard to ignore.

And that was the point.

Proverbs 14:30 says, “A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.”

The point the coach was making was that envy doesn’t rot the person we envy. It rots us. Quietly. Slowly. Internally.

Friends, here’s the reminder many of us need: You are the only youthe world will ever see. God was not distracted when He made you. You were created intentionally, uniquely and with purpose.

Psalm 139:14 says, “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”

Comparison has a way of making us forget that. It pulls our eyes away from gratitude and toward everyone else’s highlight reel. But peace begins when we trust that God knows what He’s doing — not just in someone else’s life, but in ours too.

Maybe these are good questions for us to consider this week:

• Where has comparison stolen joy from me?
• Who or what am I struggling to celebrate?
• What would it look like to fully embrace the person God created me to be?

May you rest this week in the peace of knowing you are fully seen, deeply loved and wonderfully made by God.