I’m sure we have all met a person or married couple that, well, they just seem to have their stuff together. These are the kind of people that fall in into a pile poo and come out smelling like a rose. Over and over again life seems to hand them blessings while we fight the daily grind. “Everything they touch turns to gold.” Ever said that about someone?

Here is a radical idea; could it be that some people cooperate with God’s divine plan better than others?

I do not believe any person is blessed more than another. God loves me as much as the guy that is setting in prison. What I do believe is some people cooperate with God better and that cooperation, internally and externally, shows up differently. I also believe that cooperating is easier for some than others. Again, there are people that know their strengths (God given gifts), focus on them and good things follow. Read the parable about the talents again Matthew 25: 14-30.

Perhaps it is fear that keeps some of us from fully cooperating with the Lord and using our gifts and talents. Perhaps is lack of knowledge, focus, or just plain laziness. But I think it is jealousy that paralyzes many people. A look through the Old Testament will reveal many of stories of how jealousy ruined lives. There is good reason jealousy is deadly, its kissing cousin envy is one of the capital or better known “deadly” sins. How can we truly love another, totally give our heart to another if we want what they have? How can we be in a position to receive the risen Lord and accept all His love if we show no gratitude for what he has given us already? The fact is we cannot! Envy/jealousy turns many a good person dark inside. The heart is no longer an open vessel to be filled and thus give. It becomes hard, no longer able to give or receive.

Like the story of Cain and Abel, how many relationships with people we love have we “killed” due to jealousy?

To mend a stained heart, to be able to fully cooperate with the Lord we must master our countenance as God instructed Cain. "If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it." Gen 4:7. This requires the unpopular sacrament of reconciliation. Yes it is largely out of fashion in the Catholic Church but it is very powerful to begin mastering our countenance. Showing God gratitude for the gifts already given is an excellent and powerful way to combat the seductive and deadly sin of envy. And, to fully cooperate with the Lord also means we have to be in the game! Get off the couch, get off the computer and get with God figuring out what He wants you to do. That is not easy work. Many of the people we can be jealous of probably spent a lot of time and effort we never see or have seen laying the ground work for what we see now. We may never see the hours spent at college studying for a degree, or the worry while a small business started, or classes taken and stack of books read to be a better parent or spouse.

God did not guarantee anyone an easy path. Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me Mt 16: 24 are not easy instructions. It means to say “NO” to something(s) even very good things, take up the burden, and get on with it. Its work, but, it is worth it! We get to follow the Risen Lord! When we do as He instructs, when we trust Him, when we unload the sin of jealousy and all other sin, we open ourselves up to Him. We can better love as He loves, and receive as He gives.

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