By nature, jealousy runs -no, if anything, sprints- through my veins. It is in the words I may say, the thoughts I may think; crawling up my back and digging its way into my chest where it then makes an attempt to consume my heart. Jealousy began in middle school when I would pass the girls in the hallways who were skinnier or prettier than I was.

There seemed to be no hope for the missing-toothed, frizzy-headed introvert like me. It then progressed in my early years of high school when I would hear guys call other girls "hot", or whenever I would get a TBH on one of my pictures (an acronym for To Be Honest that would allow whoever was posting a TBH on someone's photo to be, well, "honest" and could compliment or dis at their convenience), boys would compliment my humor, my kindness, or my intelligence instead of my looks.

And every time someone did not say I was beautiful, a piece of my heart broke.

Those days of being disappointed over a fifteen-year-old boy's opinion of me are over, thank goodness, but the envy of seeing others who live "perfect" lives has yet to pass. If I'm being honest, I am drenched in the habit of comparison.

I find myself striving to be like those on television who have the perfect body, or like those on social media who have the perfect families. Sometimes I will ask God why I was not blessed with blonde hair or with perfect teeth, but then He reminds me that I was not created in the image of others.

I was created in the image of Him, a perfect God. That means He created us perfectly, even if we believe otherwise. Why is it that we strive so hard to become similar to people on this earth when we were formed with the sole purpose of learning to be more like God?

Choosing whether or not we can let go of our jealousy eventually comes down to truly understanding that God made us beautiful, rather than simply acknowledging it. Scripture states that we were "fearfully and wonderfully made", although when the morning comes, many of us rise to look in the mirror and become disgusted with ourselves.

He takes great delight in His Children, I cannot imagine how it breaks His heart whenever we do not view ourselves the same way. And if we (myself included) do this, we are denying God's truth and beauty. So let us walk with our heads held high, no matter if we managed to brush our hair or not. Have confidence knowing that God loves you, even when you do not love yourself.