Keep Your Eyes on Your Own Paper

The title of this blog post comes from one of the comments on this article: Other People's Souls. Simcha Fisher offers a good reminder to focus less on what other people are doing in their lives and more on what is going on in your own. Here is a brief excerpt:

So, it’s fine to take a look around myself and think, “Could I be doing things differently? Is my spiritual life in a rut? Am I following my vocation, or just following the path of least resistance?” But once I’ve considered these questions honestly, I need to just get back to work. Of course I’m doing things differently from how other people are. Of course some worthy works are being neglected. That’s because I’m following my vocation, and a vocation is just a means to an end, not an end in itself.

We all ought to have the same priority of pleasing God. But casting a fishy eye at other people’s choices almost never gets us there.