Some of our friends could have a stain of jealousy even in their friendship; and when they hear us praised by others or doing better, will attribute it to creepy and interested motives if they can.

There is a reason why envy is one of the deadly sins. It can dim and deaden our will, our drive, paralyze our effort to try. It can suppress our spirit, and truly impoverish us from being our very best. Of course we are not being a bad friend. We are just not being as wise of a friend as we can be.

We all are designed to reap and sow! But we don't have to get bogged down in focusing on what we don't have and end up overlooking the opportunity to learn from your friend's success. Perhaps there are some attributes we can model and avenues we can travel under our friend's guidance

There was a story written by Sri Chinmoy showing us how jealousy intermingles with friendship.
Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed.--Mahatma Gandhi 

There were two thieves who were good friends and, at the same time, were very jealous of each other. Such is human life: friendship and jealousy go together.

One night, after they had gone out stealing, they met in the street. One of them had a beautiful golden cup. The other thief said, “How did you get that?”

His friend said, “I stole it from a hermit’s house.”

The first thief said, “How could a hermit own such a beautiful gold cup?”

His friend said, “That I don’t know, but the hermit has many disciples. Perhaps one of them gave him this.

The first thief was jealous that his friend had gotten such a beautiful gold cup. Finally he said, “Well, I have decided that I will give up stealing.”

His friend said, “What! Why would you do that?”

The first thief answered, “Stealing is not a good thing. I have decided to return all the things that I have stolen to their rightful owners, whatever I still have that I know belongs to certain individuals. That way people will appreciate and love me. I want to be liked, so I will become a good person. I am going to start tomorrow.”

The other thief was amazed and jealous that his friend had thought of this idea first. He said, “You are starting tomorrow?”

“Yes,” said the first thief.

“Then I am starting right now,” said his friend. He ran to the hermit’s hut and went in. Bowing down, he said, “Please give me some advice.  Actually, it is not my problem; it is someone else’s problem. If you can solve my friend’s problem, I will be very grateful.”

“What is his problem?” asked the hermit.

The man said, “My friend is a thief and he claims he is going to return the things that he has stolen and lead a new and better life. What should he do now?”

“What do you mean?” asked the hermit.

“Suppose I have stolen something from someone. If I want to give it back, am I doing the right thing by telling him that I have stolen it and by making a confession?”

The hermit said, “You are doing the right thing if you make a confession and give back the things that you have taken. Then God will forgive you.”

The thief said, “In case the owner does not want to take it back, what should the person do? The owner may be disgusted and think that the object is polluted because it was stolen by a low class thief. A thief is impure.”
You say, 'If I had a little more, I should be very satisfied.' You make a mistake. If you are not contented with what you have, you would not be satisfied if it were doubled. --Charles Haddon Spurgeon

“In that case,” said the hermit, “the thief can keep it. It is up to the owner whether he takes it back or not. If the owner does not take it back, then the thief cannot be blamed for keeping it.”

The thief then took out the cup and gave it to the hermit. The hermit asked, “Where is it from?”

The thief said, “From your house.”

The hermit was always in trance so he did not recognize it. He said, “You have taken it from my house?” “Yes,” said the thief. “Please take it back.”
Let us treasure up in our soul some of those things which are permanent..., not of those which will forsake us and be destroyed, and which only tickle our senses for a little while... --Gregory of Nazianzus

The hermit said, “Since you have it now, it is your possession. You need it more than I do. An earthen cup is more than enough for me. I am not suggesting that you are impure. You are also God’s child.  It should be yours. I don’t have any claim on it.”

When the thief returned, his friend was still waiting for him. The friend was surprised to see that he still had the beautiful gold cup. The thief said, “I went to see the hermit, but he wouldn’t take it back. He said he didn’t need it and that I need it more than he does.”

The other thief was even more jealous that his friend still had the beautiful gold cup. He had not really planned to turn over a new leaf by returning all of his stolen goods. It was out of jealousy that he had tried to trick his friend into returning the cup. His scheme did not work and what was worse, his jealousy had increased, for his friend had become an infinitely better person.

By Tim Pedrosa


 

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There is something perverse about more than enough. When we have more, it is never enough. It is always somewhere out there, just out of reach. The more we acquire, the more elusive enough becomes. –Unknown  

Tim