Just run your lane.

One of the most important things to a happy life is to not compare yourself with others but to live your own life with authenticity. 

“And here is my judgment about what is best for you in this matter. Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so. Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have.” 2 Corinthians‬ ‭8‬:‭10‬-‭12‬

What needs finishing? What have you started? Maybe you were the first to show the initiative but after a sprint to begin with, you then slowed down and now you’ve stopped altogether. In my travels around the world I have seen many houses, churches and all kinds of buildings half-built, just standing there on the side of the road, unfinished. 

The Corinthians had begun to give towards the need last year and Paul encourages them to complete it. 

Finish the task. That’s the call for all of us and not just towards giving. To run our lane is to keep focused on our calling, vocation, our rhythm of life and our contribution to this world. 

There’s one other thing that I’m meditating on. It is what Paul says in v12. He tells them to focus on what they have not what they don’t have. To run my lane is to acknowledge what’s in my hand, my gifting, abilities, the grace God has given me. You don’t need to look across the lanes to see what others have. You have all you need to run your lane and finish the race. 

To be authentic and run your lane is to focus  on finishing well and to focus on who you are and what is in your hand.