Is the Grass Really Greener?

I used to travel home from work each day down  a certain road where the color on the right side is yucky browns and tans.  The grass is dead.  There are weeds that intermingle with the patches of dried grass.  But on the color on the left side is the brightest green you can imagine.  It is winter wheat.  It is so green because it has been fertilized.  It will remain this bright green until the wheat is harvested.

Each day I drove down that road that is between such contrasting colors I am reminded of how on the right side it represents a time of death for the land and grass.  It is in a need of renewal.  It needs watering and it needs tending.  Just as we do in our spiritual lives.  We need a daily renewal and watering by the Holy Spirit.  We need to tend to it and conserve the nutrients we harvest from it.

On the green side I am reminded of how when we fertilize our spiritual lives with God's Word it will continue to grow and give life more abundantly. Our walk through the fields with Jesus could very well be like the green pasture that is filled with life giving sustenance.

But there are thoughts occasionally as I doive through the two different colors of land that I thought of the times I thought the grass was greener on the other side of the fence.

The times I would have rather been at my girlfriend's house visiting and being teenaged girls than having to go on a vacation with my family.

The times I would have been happier listening to the radio or my 45 records than studying for a test.

The nights I would have felt better to be with my family than to have to work two shifts to make ends meet.

The times I wished I was somewhere else instead of being at home with my alcoholic husband.

The many nights I wanted to be in bed instead of doing my homework for my masters program.

And so on and so on...

Are there episodes in your life you thought what you was doing was better than what you should have done?

Are there situations in your life that caused you to wish you were somewhere else?

Are there circumstances that make you want a better life, a different life?

Are there times you covet your neighbor's or your friend's things or even their life?

Is the grass really greener on the other side of the road?

When I lived at home my parents were well off.  I had any materialistic thing I ever wanted and then some.  But I was physically abused.  I was mentally abused.  I was the step child.  I never felt loved by my own mother or my step father.  I could care less about the money.  When they would give me money I usually just gave it away to my friends.  All I really wanted was a family who loved me.  I ended up spending more time with my friends than I ever did with my family.  As I was growing up I envied my friends who had family time, who had family who showed love and affection.  So there are those who think the grass is greener for those who have money.  I traded money for love.  And after years of looking for love in all of the wrong places as the song says, I finally found true love.  The love of Jesus Christ who came into my heart and I found my Savior who loves me.

The world wants us to think that the grass is greener on the other side, but I will take the side of Jesus any day over the world's side.  As far as I am concerned the side of the world and the devil's demons is the yucky dry dead brown and tan side.  Give me the side with Jesus Christ on it and I know that I shall have greener pastures and life more abundantly.

Hope this has prompted you to write of times you thought the grass was really greener but turned out not to be so.  Praise the Lord you do not have to straddle the fence nor stick your head through the barbed wire to reach the green pasture.  If you have Jesus in your life you are walking on the pathway to see the Lord and heaven.

May we join together on this journey and never feel as if we have missed out on something.  The world cannot offer anything more important than life everlasting.