Vepu Pfuno
Assistant Professor, Immanuel College, Dimapur
There are around 6.4 billion people living and breathing on this earth as you read and mind you, nobody has exactly the same DNA sequence as you do. Leave aside the molecular level and look at your beautiful face in a mirror, nobody has exactly the same face as you do. Remember that much you are uniquely, fearfully and wonderfully created by God. Many people fail to realised the uniqueness and the ability that God has given them and try to compete with others in a race which is not theirs and often find themselves defeated, rejected and discouraged after losing the battle because God never intended them to be in somebody else's race.
Let's take an example; If you were a bike and your friends were auto-rickshaws. Even if you wanted to be like your friends and earn some money like the rickshaws, no matter how hard you try to earn money, you can never make as much money as your friends because you are not designed and meant to carry passengers on a commercial level. Vice versa, if you were an auto-rickshaw and your friends were bikes. Now you try to compete with them in a race. No matter how hard you try and push yourself you can never outrun your friends. You will find yourself losing the race because your body, engine and speed doesn't match your friends'. In the very first place you were never meant to be in a race but you were designed to carry only passengers.
In First Samuel Chapter 18, we learn about King Saul and David. When David and his men were returning home, after David had killed the Philistines, the women folk came out from all the towns singing and dancing. As they danced, they sang "Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten of thousands". This displeased King Saul greatly. Never in his dreams did it occur to him that one day he will throw a spear to kill David but he did. As the story goes on, King Saul even hunted down to kill the God anointed ten thousand man, but instead got himself killed by his own fellow soldier in the battle. Had he (King Saul) known that David was anointed to be a ten thousand man even though he is a soldier under him and accepted the talent that God had given David, he would have been a peaceful and successful King with the help of his faithful soldier David but instead of given credit, praise and honor he tried to outsmart David and eventually found himself falling into his own pit.
Many a times, like King Saul, we try to outsmart and walk into some other people shoes only to find ourselves falling into the pit we dug for others. When we compete with others in a race which is not ours, we are simply losing our time, our effort, our joy and happiness.
The best way to compete in this world is to yourself. Know your own race and be the best of who you are capable of. Sometimes you might face rough storms, rough edges and rocky pebbles in your race but never let those storms pull you down. Stand firm on your feet and run the race which God has given you because that is the only way you will find the true meaning, purpose and satisfaction in your life.
Don't never ever let somebody's success and achievement steal your joy and stress you down. You are not meant to be in somebody's shoes. You are yourself and you need to stand, walk and run in your own shoes.
Run your God given race and fulfill it like never before. Just like the apostle Paul says,"I have kept the faith, I have run the race, I have finished the task, now I wait on the Lord to receive the prize for which God has called me heavenward.".
Remember, you are uniquely created to be you and not to be your friends, classmates, neighbors, coworkers or anybody else. Be the best that God has created you to be. Amen.
