Gimme Yours

Leah and Rachel found themselves married to one man in a scandalous soap-opera-like move (Gen. 29). To make matters worse Rachel, the originally intended bride could not bear children and Leah the “usurper” kept producing sons. Gen. 30 opens with a very poignant cry from Rachel to their husband Jacob: “When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!”

Both sisters had something going for them: Leah got married first, was fertile, had four sons in quick succession. In a society where barrenness was looked down on, Leah was in a good place. However Jacob did not love Leah and despised her. She was not as beautiful as her sister.

Rachel was the love of Jacob’s life, Jacob worked 14 years to pay her bride-price, the bible describes her as being lovely in form and beautiful. However she was barren.

None of them “had it all” but they each had something good. But as is usually the case, each wanted what the other had. Rachel wanted children, Leah wanted Jacob’s love (check out how she named her sons). None of them was satisfied with what they had and the comparison and discontentment led to rivalries and conflicts, making none of them any happier and leaving their home in turmoil.

Most if not all of us are quick to focus on what we do not have rather than what we have. If we will focus on the latter more often, our lives will be simpler and we will be happier. We fail to enjoy what we have at the moment because we get caught in the trap of comparison too often. Discontentment breeds jealousy and can lead us to make questionable choices.

We choose to mourn what we do not have and fail to appreciate what we have that others do not have. Once we do not have that husband, that job, that car, that house, that budget to shop, we act as if we have nothing at all. By asking you to be content I am not encouraging you to flourish in mediocrity but asking that you learn to appreciate what you have as you continue to utilize your God-given abilities to get to where God intends for you to be.

Take time to reflect on and take stock of the positives in your life for if you focus too much on what you lack you run the risk of working yourself into a depression. Selah.

Blessings!

Love, Lady Mo.❤