Anything you can do, I can do better

       Woe is me, woe is me. That is every one's lament. I am reminded of that song from Annie Get Your Gun with Bernadette Peters and Tom Wopat, Anything you can do, I can do better.  My tasks are worse than your tasks. The road I travel is much tougher than the road you travel. We are a nation of one-upmanship in every respect. If keeping up with the Jones' was all there was to it. No, we compete in houses, schools, cars, boats, towns and villages, clothes, phones, and heaven knows it doesn't even stop there. Even if we try to focus on legitimate problems, "Black lives matter", someone steps forward to say yeah, but police matter and this matters more, or that matters more.  Sometimes I think we are on a sinking ship and we are all arguing who has the best seat to see and experience the big plunge.

          My wise and sainted father-in-law, who recently lost his beloved wife of 65 years, noted that if we all sat around a table and placed our problems face up for everyone to see, we would very likely say, "I'll keep my own" , thank you very much. Instead of us realizing we are all in the same boat with problems and empathizing or taking comfort in some kind of shared agony, we beat each other up and demean others so we look like we are somehow better ( or worse if you will ).

           There is an old idiom Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes. If we could only practice that just a wee bit more we'd all be in a better place. Instead of demeaning others or instead of embracing the tragedies of our own lives, take heart and know that such troubles are not to be embraced or boasted over. Better you should hand them over to God and move forward in love, empathy and compassion.

2 Corinthians 11:21-31

To my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that!

But whatever anyone dares to boast of—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast of that. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ? I am talking like a madman—I am a better one: with far greater labours, far more imprisonments, with countless floggings, and often near death. Five times I have received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked; for a night and a day I was adrift at sea;on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from bandits, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers and sisters; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, hungry and thirsty, often without food, cold and naked. And, besides other things, I am under daily pressure because of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I am not indignant?

 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus (blessed be he for ever!) knows that I do not lie.