Ever wish you had someone else's life?

Years ago a corner of the world was struggling. The economy was terrible. Farms were barren. Livestock was dead or dying. One desperate family sent several men to the government seeking help. The trip was humbling. They weren't accustomed to appearing as beggars pleading for anything to stay alive.

The men were shocked when they arrived in the capital. Food was abundant and people lived quite well. Even the official they came to see was healthy, wealthy, and living in luxury. Who could blame them if they wanted to trade their lives for his?

Many have such desires today, especially when looking at movie stars, sports heroes, or other celebrities. Part of it is assumed "freedom". With incredible resources, they can go anywhere and do anything they like. They can buy the largest houses, finest clothes, and fastest cars. If you want to get practical, they can afford the best medical attention and retirement plans. On the impractical side, they can pay whatever it takes to appear young, fit, and beautiful.

But this is only the outer shell. Looking inside, more often we find a life with no freedom. Every move, every word, is exploited for profit. Families are frequently broken. Real friends are few and far between. Lonely lives struggle to regain former fame and glory. And in the end, even those with the best healthcare eventually die. Man, despite his riches, does not endure. (Psalm 49:12)

Happiness---true, deep, honest, long lasting happiness---is not found in material possessions, the size of a bank account, status, popularity, or education. It's found in loving and being loved, encouraging and being encouraged, helping and being helped. Real happiness is found in the special sharing that takes place only within the Family of God.

And happiness begins with accepting who you are, with all your problems, faults, mistakes and issues mixed together with all your loveliness (real and imagined). Aren't we to strive to be better? Sure. But when you began your walk with God, you weren't even remotely close to the person He's called you to be. Every day is a new day with a new you. There's so much to experience, enjoy, and learn.

Here's the key: Embrace yourself, look forward to the person you're becoming, and never compare your life with anyone. Others have struggles and fears you haven't encountered. Their lives have seen difficult bends and turns you haven't known. Far too often, they secretly carry baggage that would crush you. Behind happy façades are the lonely, sad, and depressed.

Some believe others always have it better than they do. They look in the mirror and see one who's poor, ugly, fat, skinny, ignored, dumb, ill, crippled...someone abandoned by a god who claims he loves them. And they waste away, yearning for someone else's life.

Remember that official the men went to see? He'd been raised by a manipulative father, abandoned by his family, unjustly thrown into prison, and falsely accused of being arrogant, untrustworthy, and even a sexual predator. Those men saw only the glitter on the outside and not the years of anguish before his success. They did not know the true life of their own brother, Joseph.

Here's my prayer for you---may you be filled to overflowing with God's Spirit and the eyes of your heart flooded with His light, so you will know and understand the hope to which He has called you, the richness of His glorious inheritance in those He has set apart, and the immeasurable, unlimited, and surpassing greatness of His power in and for us who believe in Him. (see Ephesians 1:18-19a).