5 Things Jealousy Won't Do

Recently my cousin, Suzie, who I haven't seen in about ten years, called to say that she and her daughters were at a Tulsa hotel due to an emergency landing. Their private plane blew out a window at 21,000 feet causing Suzie to have to dive 4,000 feet a minute in order to get down to air with oxygen so they wouldn't fall asleep, crash and burn.

But as interesting as that is... that is not what this is about.

The real reason I'm writing this is because after two glasses of Chardonnay, I finally confessed to Suzie, that growing up, I was jealous of her and that it had caused me to distance myself from her and her family.

Here's the kicker, it wasn't because she married a millionaire, has three airplanes, and used to be Mayor of  El Paso. Although, some could be jealous of all her success, I thought that was pretty cool on her part. (Way to go, Suzie!)

I was jealous because I thought my Dad, (Uncle Oscar to Suzie), loved her more. He loved to brag about Suzie, tease her and she even moved in with us for awhile. You know what Suzie said?

"You have to be kidding, I was jealous of YOU! I thought my dad, (who was Uncle Johnny to me), loved you more." You could have blown me over with a feather. Who knew?

We forgave, laughed, and hugged and then reminisced about all the good times we had with our fathers. However, I realized that we both had missed a lot of good times because of our stupid jealousies.

Known as the "ugly green-eyed monster", jealousy will steal your good times and even harm your business.

5 Things Jealousy Won't Do for you:

1. It won't bring joy or value. 
2. It won't allow you to serve that person in love or kindness.
3. It won't allow you to live abundantly with that person or to place their interests first.
4. It won't allow you to be authentic because you hide yourself from them.
5. It won't allow you to stay open to graciously receiving from that person.

I look forward to getting together with Suzie again real soon and I hope that this confession will help you take a look at any area in your life where jealousy is stealing love and prosperity.