We’ve all heard the saying, “The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.”  We’ve probably all thought that and believed that at various times in life as well. 

It is interesting that as often as I’ve heard that phrase used, I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone use it and actually mean it.  It is always in the context of, “you think it is that way but it really isn’t.”  They don’t mean the grass is greener, it just looks that way from this side. 

I’ve spent this past week out in the Pacific Northwest and as I’ve travelled in Washington and Oregon, I’ve thought the grass really does look greener out here.  So, what if the grass really is greener on the other side of the fence.  What difference would that make?  Would it cause us to climb the fence?  Maybe even get off the fence and decide where we will walk?  Perhaps even be so bold as to investigate why the grass is greener?  No, for most people there is never a decision made, just a complaint that someone has it better than they do.

Yes, the grass is greener, the flowers are larger and more beautiful, the landscapes more lush out here than anything in northern Indiana in the summer.  But there is a price.  The price is rain.  Day after day of cloudy, gloomy, rainy weather.  Yes, there are days of sun to provide the energy for growth, but it is the rainy seasons of the northwest that bring with it a greenness that the hot, dry summers of Indiana can never produce.

Our spiritual lives can be similar.  We may see someone who appears to have an incredible connection with God and we wonder why they have that and we don’t.  Envy and jealousy begins to creep into our life as we allow thoughts of unfairness to dwell in our mind.  We close our mind to the “rain” that has filled a person’s life and caused them to draw nearer to God.  Even if we recognize the cloudy, dreary days that drew a person into a depth of relationship with God, we want a shortcut.  We want the result without the things necessary to bring it about. 

God has designed no shortcuts.  He says that if we want to be His disciple, we must take up our cross and follow Him.  Our faith must be tried and tested.  Our salvation must be worked out with fear and trembling.  It is work.  It is hardship.  It is not easy.  Yet, when accomplished, the peace, joy, and contentment that comes will always make the grass look greener on your side of the fence. 

May you be found walking in greener pastures because you faithfully pursue Christ at all costs.