I can’t stop comparing myself to others. “Is he smarter than me? Is she prettier than me? Does she have more friends than I do?” While it can sound like an innocent habit, I ended up being sucked into it, unable to be thankful for whatever I had. It started when I was a child. …
Dear Joshua, I will never forget October 23, 2017. It seemed so surreal seeing you lying motionless in the casket, dressed in your best. Tears swelled up in my eyes as I remembered how you had been such a good friend to my husband and me. Your abrupt departure from this earth caught us completely …
I got into a great conversation with a girl at a party recently. She’s been a friend for a long time, but it went so well I started to wish she was more than a friend. But I could tell she didn’t want the same. It’s hard to walk away from a party alone. No …
Iused to think Thanksgiving was cute, like little handprint turkey art projects from third graders. Thanksgiving was mildly entertaining, like whatever football game is on TV when you fall asleep after too much turkey. But Thanksgiving, I thought, was not important or relevant or meaningful. How could it be? I’ve always been a little jaded about this …
In the world of instant messaging, “emojis” and “likes”, it’s easy to have a lot of “friends” but never have honest or encouraging conversations with them. Often, while listening to others while I sip my cup of coffee, I can’t help but think, “What do they really need to talk about?” We tend to dance …
It happens pretty often. Sometimes, it’s a passing judgment; other times, it’s a passing thought that I am more “Christian” than my peers. I don’t deny that I struggle with my own sins, but I would always think that, at the very least, I am better off than someone whose sins seem more apparent, more …
Ididn’t realise I was different until kids at primary school kept pointing it out. You see, I have ginger hair. No one else had ginger hair in my school apart from my brother, but they always picked on me, never on him. Most of the time, it was one or two kids who picked on …
What an opportunity!” I said to myself, after happily accepting an invitation to my neighbor’s home for dinner that evening. Six months ago, the family had emigrated to the United States from a predominantly Muslim country; this was the first time I had gotten an invitation from them. I felt excited at the chance to …
In a culture obsessed with romantic relationships, the value of genuine friendship often goes unrecognized. However, God created us not just for romantic relationships, but also to have fulfilling friendships. There are many examples in the Bible of great friendships—such as between Jonathan and David, and Jesus and the disciples—that show friendship is important to …
I remember the day vividly. I was sitting in my brother’s room, cooling off after an argument with my best friend. I’ll never forget what my best friend said to me. She certainly hadn’t spared my feelings: the gist of her words had to do with me acting like a spoilt, selfish brat. I was …
