Coming Apart at the “Seems”

Karen

A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.

—Proverbs 14:30

I sat outside on our back deck, vigorously stirring my iced tea with a striped straw until the ice cubes formed a tiny whirlpool in my glass. But my midday beverage wasn’t the only thing stirring. My emotions churned as well. See, I had been scrolling through social media posts on my phone.

Swipe after swipe made my heart sink further. I was already in a gloomy state from having dealt with a child’s poor choice, a tension-filled dispute with my husband, and the too-tight jeans I wore that day, which at one time had been so loose on me that I’d almost donated them to the local thrift store.

Sigh.

As I scrolled through the highlight reel of images before me, all I could think was, Gee, it must be nice. Everyone else seems to have it all together. The scene played out a little something like this:

Swipe.

Wow. Seems like she has academically brilliant children.

Tap.

Man. Look at that fancy dinner with her smiling husband. They seem so happy.

Scroll.

Oh, lovely. A workout selfie at the gym. Seems like she has oodles of time to devote to exercise and a body and appetite that cooperate. Maybe I’ll finally start my diet tomorrow. Or next Monday. Oh, who am I kidding? I’ll never look like that.

And there you have it. A stroll down social media lane can leave us coming completely apart at the “seems.” It always seems like everyone has it better than we do.

Today’s key verse in Proverbs reflects this well: “A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones” (14:30).

Envy here doesn’t just mean that initial, Must be nice thought. It means passionate and zealous jealousy.

The word rots means “decays.” In this verse, that means the figurative death of one’s very strength of life. But let’s not just dwell on the dreary picture painted here. What about the other half of this verse?

The heart at peace literally means one that is sound, wholesome, healthy, and cured. So the way to have a healthy heart emotionally and spiritually is to keep envy at bay.

We do this by fighting against the “poor me” mentality. Thankfulness chases envy away and settles our souls in God’s perfect peace. The next time we are tempted to come apart at the “seems” while staring at the pics on our phone, let’s log off for a moment—or a week!—and start counting our many blessings.

May we be grateful to God for what we have and stop wanting someone else’s life. Then we’ll discover that true contentment isn’t having what you want. It is wanting nothing more than what you already have.

Father, help me be earnestly grateful for all You’ve given me and stop wishing for someone’s else’s life. You are enough for me. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Whom or what do you envy? Write a prayer of confession below, and ask for help in changing this envy to thankfulness.