Even Ground

This past weekend at the conference, Jennifer mentioned a few times that the ground at the foot of the cross is level. No one is more or less important.

...which reminded me of this that I'd intended to tell you.

I mentioned on Sunday that last week I'd gone to hear my college buddy Susanna Childress read some of her poetry.

Susanna was a dream writing student. Seriously. She was smart, creative, an out-of-the-box thinker, willing to take risks I wouldn't even be willing to entertain, and she comprehended poetic skills so beyond me. Professors loved her and rightly so. And were she not so stinkin' lovable, I might have hated being her peer. (Especially during peer editing days.) But she was kind, encouraging, and seemed to live out the ground at the foot of the front of the class being level, even though she was clearly the front-runner. Amazing young lady, that Susanna Childress.

During the reading, she elected to share a poem she'd written about, and I quote, "how hot my husband is." (That would be her husband. I don't have a husband...just in case you were confused.)

So she was reading away, eloquently describing his hotness, and I was sitting there listening and occasionally thinking, I really should learn some of these words.

Allow me to let you in on the actual stream of thoughts in my mind:

Susanna: reading eloquently

Me: Look at her. She is every bit as polished and lovely in person and literary land as she was when we were in school together.

Susanna: reading eloquently

Me: You know, though, I think we've both done well. I mean sure, she has her PhD and teaches and writes and amazes the masses, but she's just doing what she loves. And I'm doing what I love, even though it's different. Yes, we've both done a good job since college.

Susanna: reading eloquently

Me: Although, let's face it. She is up there rolling these huge words off her tongue with no issue and I couldn't even interview the Dishfunctional Designs lady without accidentally calling her creations trash.

Susanna: In that very moment, she opened her mouth and totally mixed up a word in a big way. Her face turned 57 shades of red and the entire place cracked up...because there was no way around it.

While laughing...I thought Oh how ironic it would happen in that moment. She's good but she's not perfect and I need to remember it. We have different life paths and that's okay. She's a PhD, wife, mother, and teacher, and she's good at it. I'm Bekah, and I'm good at that.

The ground is level. I'm no better or worse than Susanna. I'm no better or worse than you. I get so caught up in the comparison game...maybe you do too.

But Jennifer's right. The ground at the foot of the cross is level.