Second Place

I don't usually get to be #1. I'm not the star. I've never been popular, never been the kind of girl that boys were drawn to like moths to a flame, never been the life of the party. In fact, I tend to have friends who are "more" of those things than I am - more popular, friendlier, prettier, smarter, you name it. With the very notable exceptions of my God and my family, I am rarely the first choice. I'm the sidekick - the Ed McMahon, the Tonto, the Avis (we're number two so we try harder). When I was a teenager boys would generally approach me only to ask if my friend would go out with them. I used to wonder what it was about me that kept me in the background while other girls got all the attention, and I fantasized about the day when it would be MY turn to shine. (For the record, I still don't know and the day hasn't come yet, but I'm OK with that. Mostly.)

And then I grew up. I got married, had a baby, got divorced. (Yes, I was number one for that guy but not for long.) I had a wonderful friend named Donna who had gone through a similar experience and became my best of all best friends during that time. We propped each other up, held each other's hands during the tough stuff and basically did life together. One day I met up with a guy I had once known through my ex-husband. Scott was also divorced and we started hanging out together as friends. There was nothing remotely romantic going on except maybe in my own mind. Eventually I introduced him to Donna. Can you guess where this is headed? Sure enough he comes to me one day and says he needs to ask me a serious question and it turns out to be, do I think Donna would go out with him? I won't go into all the gory details but they DID go out and to add insult to injury, they fell in love and got married. I eventually got over the hurt and decided my friendship with each of them mattered more than my hurt feelings (or broken heart, depending on the day), and even sang at their wedding.

Recently I've been thinking about what I see as my tendency to come in second in life and trying not to feel sorry for myself. I know my self-worth lies in God's opinion of me and not what man thinks of me, etc., etc., etc., yet still it gets hard here on earth feeling like you always come in second. Furthermore, I know it's a trick of the enemy to make me feel worth less (not worthless but worth less). And then I found in my inbox a devotional about envy. Now, I'd like to think I don't have a problem with envy but in reality I do. Not all the time, but sometimes it creeps in and tries to steal my joy, or at least my contentment with life. So as I'm reading this devotional written by someone I admire (who doesn't usually finish second, I might add - I'm convinced Lysa Terkeurst was probably Homecoming Queen in high school) and she's admitting to being envious of what others have and do, I was a little startled. You mean that the grass is not always greener on the cheerleading squad? Sometimes the "winners" are envious too? She said that God pointed out to her that just maybe she wasn't equipped to deal with someone else's life, because every life has good and bad parts. We see only the good things and not the bad when we look at another person's life with jealousy or envy as our viewfinder. She said that now whenever she catches herself looking at someone else and envying their clothes, home, talent, looks, etc. that she says to herself, "I am not equipped to handle her life, both good and bad." God gives us what we need to handle OUR blessings and trials, not someone else's. And we have no way of knowing all the ups and downs of someone else's life.

I lost touch with Donna and Scott after Jon and I got married. Then a few years ago I was reading the newspaper when I happened across Scott's obituary. He died suddenly at the age of 37 of a massive heart attack. I called Donna and we talked for a long, long time that night. I know they had a happy life together and while I had long since gotten over the jealousy I felt at the start of their relationship, I was struck by how much time I had wasted back then feeling sorry for myself because I wasn't his first choice.

I don't know why I was never the kind of girl that guys flirted with, or got nominated for Homecoming Queen, or had tons of friends, or got the lead role in the plays. Maybe I am just not equipped to handle the pressure or the acclaim. For whatever reason, God has put me right where I am and I can live with that. Just call me Ethel. :-)