Tending your grass...

I was in the car line this afternoon waiting to pick my son up from middle school and I was chatting with a friend about something that I think we all struggle with. It's the whole idea of the "grass being greener on the other side." Let's face it, we've all wanted the grass on the other side. If we are single; we might want to be married, if we're married, we might want to be single...if we have an apartment, we might want a house...if we have an inflatable boat, we might want a yacht. We get jealous of what others have and we want what they have. There's always SOMETHING that someone has that we don't that we wish we did. It's so much in our nature, this whole jealousy thing, that God gave us a commandment that deals with this issue. This may sound familiar to you:

Exodus 20:17 New Living Translation (NLT)
17 “You must not covet your neighbor’s house. You must not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.”

In case you didn't understand the meaning of "covet" in this commandment, here it is:

cov·et: yearn to possess or have (something). "the president-elect covets time for exercise and fishing"
synonyms: desire, yearn for, crave, have one's heart set on, want, wish for, long for, hanker after/for, hunger after/for, thirst for "even with all they have, they covet the wealth of others"

So, now that we know what this means, here's what my thoughts are on the subject...in case anyone out there is actually reading my thoughts. In our world, especially in today's world, there is what appears to be "greener grass" EVERYWHERE. You have an iPhone 4 and your friend just got the iPhone 6, so now you want it too. You take your family to Omaha 3 hours away for an affordable vacation while you see pictures of your friend in St. Thomas with their spouse on a romantic getaway. Not only do we have greener grass everywhere, we can see it in pictures on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, You Tube...you get the idea. We have access multiple times a day to see glimpses of everyone's "greener grass" and we feel like we don't have enough, we aren't enough, we don't make enough money, we don't have enough stuff. So we tend to want to go after different grass because we think it's greener, rather than tending our own grass which has turned brown by this point because we're too busy looking at everyone else's grass. Does this make sense? It does in my mind so I'll try to make it make sense for the 2 of you reading this post.

Here's the problem, in my opinion. We are SO focused on what we don't have, that we don't really see, appreciate or take care of what we do have. In order for the grass to be green, we have to water the grass, we have to cut the grass, we might need to aerate, seed, pull weeds, and so on. The grass is NOT going to be green if we don't tend the grass. Let's face it, it's hard work to get the grass to be green and lush and beautiful. We are a world where instant gratification is what we know. We have no patience, we have no desire to really work at something. We prefer to take the easy way, we'd rather go through a fast food drive thru than spend 15-30 minutes preparing a meal at home. It's easier to walk away from a failing marriage than to put the hard work into making it better. We throw stuff away, we walk away, we "upgrade," we trade-in stuff for bigger or better or newer stuff. When our grass starts to turn brown or weeds start popping up, we just let it die, rather than trying to bring it back to life. It's a LOT of effort, it's too hard, and we don't have it in us to roll our sleeves up and get to work, so we just give up.

The thing that's really cool about God, is that He KNOWS how we are, He knows we covet, He knows we can't navigate this life on our own. He knows that we can't bring the dead to life. But He can. He has. He does. God gave us His word as our "life manual." Pretty much tells us how to do everything in that Bible on your shelf. He doesn't promise this life will be easy, but He does promise that He will be with us every step of the way. He is the way that our own grass can become green, even if it has turned brown and appears to be dead. By following Him, we can see the grass under our own feet, we can stop looking at everyone else's grass and ignoring ours. It's not easy, but it's possible.

Thanks be to God I do not have to figure out how to make my own grass green, Lord knows I'm not a green thumb! Thanks be to God I don't have to do all of this very hard work on my own. I do not have to covet, because I have Christ. By keeping my eyes on Jesus, I can learn to be grateful for what I have, rather than constantly yearn for what I don't have. I guarantee you this isn't easy. We are surrounded by greener grass all around us and it's so hard to not want it and to be content right where we are. Paul, who I first thought was an arrogant sexist, but have since come to deeply admire and strive to be like, says this in his letter to the Philippians in Chapter 4 (paraphrased in "The Message" by Eugene Peterson):

"I’ve learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I’m just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I’ve found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am."

Paul discovered that his own grass was enough for him, because of His relationship with Jesus. We need to stop looking at the grass on the other side and start tending our own grass with the help of the One that makes it green just because He's right beside us, right before us, right behind us, right in us. Thank you Jesus for helping me to see that the grass isn't always greener on the other side, but it is green right where I stand because You are right with me and in me. I praise You for helping me to see this and to continue to follow Your lead in my life. It is not easy, especially in the world I live in. But You never said it would be easy...only that You would never leave me or forsake me. I love You more and more every day. Amen.