“A heart at peace gives life to the body,

but envy rots the bones.” (NIV)

–Proverbs 14:30 

In the spring of my junior year in high school I ran for president of the student government association. Looking back, I’m not sure why. I had never been involved in the SGA before.  Perhaps I took that step because my closest friend was running for Senior Class President and thus thought it would be great for the two of us to have such roles for our last year. 

Whatever the reasoning, my campaign posters displayed a “W” with a circle around it which looked suspiciously like the symbol for the Westinghouse Corporation. In another amazing coincidence to a tv commercial from that era my campaign slogan was “You can be sure if it’s Willingham.”  I was always glad no one asked me of what they could be assured!   

My opponent for the office was Patsy Kravtin. She had been a class representative to the SGA for three years. Yet even with her clear edge in experience I felt sure of victory because I was a male and our school had never had a female SGA president. I debated whether to mention that embarrassing detail here,  but decided what better place than a blog focused on grace to confess a delusional idea from my past!

Patsy worked hard in the campaign, introducing herself to students and handing out flyers that explained her ideas. I did little more than enjoy my new celebrity status. As I walked down the hall, people would call out my name or slap me on the back, telling me victory was assured. Classmates who had ignored me for three years began asking me to sit at their lunch table and invited me to their parties. I loved the attention, but clearly should have spent more time campaigning, as to no surprise the SGA President at Hardaway High School for the 1975-76 school year was Patsy Kravtin.  Equally unsurprising was how my new “friends” disappeared. 

Had that been the end of the story, this post could easily have fit with the first topic of this Lenten series; the pride/humility pairing from last week. Yet the reason I’m telling it now is because the impact of that campaign loss didn’t end with the spring. Instead, what came next gives further evidence to those who suspect that pride is the basis of all other troubling acts.   

When senior year rolled around, Patsy faithfully acted on the changes she had proposed. The SGA began to use creative approaches to garner student input and became more effective. Even I could see that. Yet whenever the topic of the SGA came up in casual conversation, I grumbled about the changes. I was clearly envious and probably still embarrassed to have lost the race. After one-too-many snarling comments, a friend who was SGA secretary called me out. “You’ve done nothing but complain about what we are doing,“ she said. “Get over it!” I did. 

Envy or jealousy has always had a powerful impact on human beings. The first murder in the Bible came after Cain resented that God favored the offering his brother brought, but not his own. The last of the 10 Commandments warns about coveting, wanting something that someone else has. The Book of Proverbs puts it more succinctly by declaring “envy rots the bones.” 

I suspect that most of us can recall situations when those words rang true. Occasions when we or others became so obsessed by what they had or didn’t have in comparison to another that it had a physical effect. The actions born of envy can vary widely, but it is never a positive thing.  Nor is it a new human emotion as Shakespeare famously spoke of jealousy as the “green-eyed monster” that can be a destructive and consuming force.  

It’s interesting to me that the heavenly virtue offsetting envy is kindness. That more than just resisting any urge to “keep up with the Jones” or disparage billionaires or SGA election outcomes, we are to be intentional about offering acts of kindness. The ideal recipient of such actions would be the one who has first evoked envy in our heart. Yet even if we cannot take that step yet, we can still always choose to be kind toward others. 

Such behavior will definitely strengthen our bonds with others. Apparently, it is even good for our bones.     

Provider of all that we have, help me to resist the temptation to compare myself to someone else this day. If I still find envy arising within, lead me to transform that emotion with at least one act of kindness.  Amen.