One of the most difficult of all experiences is when we compare our life to others. Eventually, three realities arise:

• Loneliness – “Why do they go to Japan for Christmas and I stay home?”
• Ingratitude – We look at their big house and we forget we have our own house to live in
• Jealousy – “I wish I had this, I wish I had that…”

Even Jesus was not spared from Jealousy. He preached with authority; He gave hope to people; He cured the sick and drove away demons. Yet, what did his enemies say? “He got his powers from the devil.” In the eyes of his jealous enemies, there was nothing he could do right.

• Jealousy can make you do things that you regret. When you want to put people down, the mind can lead you to thoughts that you will regret. 
• Jealousy affects your health. We are body and spirit. If the body is sick, the spirit is affected. If the spirit deals with anger, then this will affect the body as well.
• Jealousy will destroy relationships. People can sense the real and the fake. People can sense your motive in relationships. The mouth will always give way to a jealous person and eventually, nobody wants to be related to a jealous person.
• Jealousy can also affect your finances. Since your decisions in your personal life and professional life are intertwined, the decisions that you make can ruin your finances. One very obvious wrong decision is buying things out of credit to appear that one has a “good life”. 
• Jealousy makes you lonely. Because decisions are wrong, because relationships are compromised, nobody wants to relate to a jealous person. Eventually, the person who does so becomes a victim of that person’s jealousy as well.

May we be able to be happy when other people are more blessed than us. May we be able to empathize when people have fewer blessings than us. May we always realize that the key to happiness is when we are faithful to the vocation God has given us. When we bless other people, the blessing will come back. In other words, there is no reason to be Jealous. 

In closing let me share this quote:

Blessed is he who has learned to admire but not envy, to follow but not imitate, to praise but not flatter, and to lead but not manipulate.

William Arthur Ward