There was one Christmas when I was little that I vividly remember for an extremely superficial reason.

I was probably about 6 or 7 years old and let's be real, pretty much tone deaf. I don't know if I had voiced it to anybody but what I had been wanting more than anything from Santa was a piano, they just seemed cool. They were loud and I liked all things loud and was all about taking up new hobbies (ya' know just 6-year-old things). So, in my own little musical mind, I decided that was what I wanted.

That Christmas everything was going swimmingly until we started our gift exchange with the whole family. My grandparents, aunts, and uncles scurried to the garage as they told my sister and cousin to keep their eyes closed.

Then they came back inside with not one but two keyboards, one for my sister and one for my cousin.

I think this was when I first tasted the burn of envy. Every ounce of my 6-year-old self wanted what just got placed on their laps and I was jealous.

I really thought no gift I had would compare because they had what I wanted most.

I may have just been a 6-year-old, living life and not really understanding what truly mattered, or why Christmas was actually significant, but to this day I catch myself doing this same thing.

And I know I'm not alone.

It's not a piano thrown in someone's lap, it's a job. Or perhaps it's their relationship that looks oh so perfect. Or it's their picture perfect wardrobe.

And it takes every part of me not to sit back and throw a silent fit because they have what I've "always" wanted. Have you ever been there?

But you see, these times of comparison and envy just take away from what's right in front of me. Not that my life is at all perfect, but there are things that I'm turning into negatives out of pure jealousy, and YIKES, that is a harsh reality to face my friends.

So here I am, vulnerable, scrambling words together on a page, but each word is a reminder of the lesson that this season of life is teaching me, and apparently, this is a lesson I should've learned as a 6-year-old.

We don't always get what we want right away, but we do get it in the right timing. And maybe we aren't getting the piano because we weren't meant to be a pianist.

Maybe you aren't getting that job because you're not meant to work there. Maybe you're not married or having kids right now because there are other things in store. None of that is bad at all.

Things are going to happen in timing that is far beyond your control and for now, be thankful for whatever is right there in front of you.

As you see others getting into new relationships and occupations they have been dreaming of, rejoice with them. This is their time, their gift, and yours will come. For the time being, enjoy the gifts right in front of you.