Ugly Truth About Envy

   Today's post is not earth shattering news. You already know it. Envy is bad no matter what form it takes. 

Proverbs 23:17 says:

 Let not your heart envy sinners,

but continue in the fear of the LORD all the day.

   We normally think of a sinner as one of "the Others". Those who are not Christians. We are all sinners, all of us. Saved and unsaved alike. There is a huge difference though. We as Christians should be bothered and may I say increasingly bothered by our sin. If you are a Christian and live in your sin, make excuses for it, minimize it - your relationship with the Lord is off kilter. You need to stop where you are, confess your sin, repent of it and receive sweet forgiveness. We have to do this moment by moment, not once and never again.

   So there it is in Proverbs we are not to envy other Christians even. We are to continually look to the Lord for our guidance and be grateful for all that He provides.  

   Here is an illustration from life: A friend asked me to pray for another friend of hers. This poor woman endured years of abuse from her mentally ill husband. After he was committed, her daughter was able to open up to her that her father had abused her. (please pray for this family - no need to mention names, God already knows them)

   So I was thinking on these poor lambs and God brought the thought to my mind that at sometime, someone probably looked at that family and envied them. 

   Were they to be envied. Of course not, we know that now don't we? What if the husband had never done those things? Well, he still did some kind of sin didn't he?  

   I want to stress that it's okay to model your behavior after a godly person's behavior. It's a fine line but that's not the same as envy - just don't let it cross the line into envy! 

Envy says that you are not thankful for what God has given you. That you know better than God does what you need or should have. If God wanted you to have that object, attitude, attribute...then He would give it to you. If you ask for it and He with holds it, there is a good reason.  Even if you don't understand what that reason is. 

Finally, here is today's update on a project for a friend. It's a memorial for her sweet child, River.

      The foundation fabric is a stark white. The lettering and booties are #12 perle ecru. Sweet flowers and foliage that surround the central element are done in one strand of DMC floss in barely there pastel shades. 

The other baby quilt I am working on is now packed up. All the embroidery is finished and framed in chocolate brown cotton that has teensy-tiny white polka dots on it. Just now I'm thinking both of these projects will be backed in soft creamy flannel. 

Count your blessings!