Comparison is the Thief of Joy
Mother Ann invited me to give the reflection at our Year 8 Family Eucharist on Tuesday evening. The reading was Matthew 6 - the lilies of the field, the birds of the air, the quiet instruction not to spend your life measuring it against everything around you.
I wrote it for our Year 8 students. My aim was simple: to remind them that they are enough, that highlights aren't everyday life, that everyone around them is carrying something invisible, and that the only comparison worth making is to who you were yesterday rather than who someone else is today.
But that's the thing about writing. It makes you think. And I found these ideas resonating just as much for me as I hope they did for the students.
Comparison is the thief of joy. Most of us would agree with that. And yet it sneaks in anyway. We scroll past someone's family who seem to have the parenting balance right in a way we're still working toward - and just for a moment, our own week feels a little ordinary by comparison. It's a very human thing to do. I'm not sure any of us are entirely immune to it.
And it isn't just on our phones. It happens in the car park, at the sideline, at pick-up. The parent who appears to be managing beautifully might be barely holding things together. The family whose children seem confident and sorted might be navigating something you can't see. We are a warm and connected community at All Saints, and even here, everyone is carrying something invisible.
Measuring ourselves against others is its own form of worry, and Jesus spoke directly to that. In Matthew 6 he says:
"Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?"
The hour spent measuring yourself against someone else's life is an hour of your own, gone.
He then points to wildflowers - not because they're pretty, but because of what they're not doing. They're not performing. They're not measuring.
"See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these."
The most spectacular thing isn't the most curated. It just grows.
The reframe I offered the students was this: the only comparison worth making is to who you were yesterday. Were you a little kinder? Did you work a little harder? A little more patient? Small improvements made consistently add up to something real. It's as true for us as it is for them. Tell your children you are working on this too. It is a powerful thing for a young person to hear - that the adults in their life are still growing, still trying. Invite them to do the same.
Continue to look after each other. The parent community at All Saints is one of our greatest strengths. We are all on the same team, raising children through the same complicated, beautiful, real life. You are a caring, loyal and proud community and it shows every single day.
It has been a wonderful term. The spirit on campus is high and I never take that for granted. Thank you for your continued support of our school and our staff.
Here's to a fabulous season of our Junior School Musical, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and a wonderful final week of learning. Have a safe and fun holiday with your family.
Matt Corbett
Principal
