Genesis 31

Once again, there's a choice between doing better and lowering the bar. Once again, people made the wrong choice.

Laban's sons were lazy. Rather than be not-lazy, though, they decided to blame Jacob.

God blessed Jacob. There's no doubt about that. The whole stripped stick thing was just Jacob's superstitious way of explaining things. In that way, he was a lot like the sons of Laban. All of them looked for something other than Yahweh to credit for Jacob's success. The sons of Laban credited Jacob's success -- and their own failure -- to his stealing from their father.

As Cain learned, it's easier to bring theLord's chosen down to your level than try and reach his. At least at first.