The Grass is Always Greener

I'm sure we're all familiar with the saying - "The grass is always greener on the other side."

 

And it is always tempting to look at other people and to want what they have.  I am not very good at looking at what I have or who I am and feeling content or satisfied.

 

Instead, I find myself looking at those around me and wishing I was more like them.  Wishing I had their skills or abilities or talents.  Wishing I had as much money as them, or as much confidence as them, or as many lovely clothes as them.  Wishing I was more like them in some way.

 

The grass is always greener on the other side.

 

But today, I read somewhere, "The grass is always greener where you water it."

 

Where you water it.

 

The grass is greener where I choose to invest my time and my energy and my efforts.  Rather than looking at others and wasting my time longing for what they have, I need to invest time in myself and in my talents and skills.  I need to water my own 'grass', rather than looking enviously at someone else's garden.

 

The Bible tells us to embrace who we are, rather than looking enviously at others -

"So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvellously functioning parts in Christ’s body, let’s just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren’t."

 

[Romans 12:6 MSG]

 

I love this verse and often return to it - there is so much to chew over.  But I wish it was as easy to make it a reality in my heart as it is to read it.  I wish that by just reading it, I found the confidence to go ahead and be what I was made to be and that I would stop comparing myself either enviously or pridefully with others.

 

Unfortunately, it's not that easy. 

 

But perhaps it starts with realising that the grass will always be greener where I choose to water it.