"Don't compare yourselves with yourselves"

I have heard the saying about not comparing yourself with others, for you are who you are  and can only do what God gave you the grace to do.Let me give a couple examples.When I first moved from Florida to Tennessee, my friends were in an Irish dance troupe called Winddance (to see information go to danceonthewind.com) I thought that if they could do it,so could I. I think I was born with two left feet. That hope lasted a year. Another example is my first job. When I started painting, I worked along side my friend Brian. I thought we both had the same skill level, so when he was able to paint with a paint brush,and I was "the brush cleaner" I was a little upset. So, when I first got a paintbrush in my hand, I obviously thought I could paint (LOL for anyone who knows my paint stories). I have a partial genetic defect; I am clumsy. If there was a bucket of paint on a dropcloth over a driveway, I'd somehow manage getting it all over! I'd have times when my brain "shut off." For instance I'd have a highly corossive rag of lacquer thinner and I'd put it on a finished surface. Well..you get the picture. I was always doing things that weren't  for me. I recently joined  the Rose Creek Village  Shorinji Ryu Karate-do dojo (for info on shorinji-ryu see shorinjiryukaratedo.com). My Sensei, Master Thomas Cauley taught us this week that we must do karate (pronounced karatae) in our own speed. Just like in Christian life, we must care about the journey just as much as the destination. We must live for Christ with everything we have right in the moment. For in doing what the Father created us he made unique. Living outside the mold.