Christian Living

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"The grass is greener on the other side of the fence" Or is it really? It is easy, as humans, to view others' lives as somehow easier or more attractive than our own based on the external factors of the other person's life. For instance, we see a person stepping out onto the lawn of a million dollar mansion as we drive by on the way to our humdrum, very boring, bottom of the line job, and it could be assumed that that person's heart must be bursting with joy to "just know" that they surely must wake in the morning to greet the sun with a hopeful heart for their future, because they will never have to want for anything at all. "What more could they want than such security?" we ask. What can't be seen from our side of the fence is, perhaps, that person going in to that great big mansion of material security only to find no one there to share in the comfort of that security. Perhaps that very week a spouse or a child was lost to illness or accident, or perhaps they got some sort of terrible news about their own mortality. Perhaps from their side of the fence, they would be willing to trade all their earthly possesions if only long hours of loneliness and longing or illness would go away.

There is an art to living a fulfilled life. The fulfillment will never come in the guise of wealth or posession of things that can be touched. Nor indeed will it even come in the guise of finding the "perfect" mate or the "perfect circle of friends", nor in finding the "perfect" vacation spot in which to "kick back", "unwind", or "get away from it all". The art to a life fulfilled and happy is to center our lives around a thankful heart. To try not to covet more for our lives than what God has allowed us to have at the present time. A person can be truly happy in any given situation if the situation they are in can be viewed in the light that their present situation is where God wants them to be in their lives for now. While we are not promised always perfect situations, perfect friendships, perfect marriages, perfect lives, we are promised that in whatever situation we are in we will not be alone because God will go with us. Although God does not cause difficult experiences or want in our lives, He does at times allow these things in order that after we have come through the fire we might be gold.

In the drudgery and worry of daily life, let us not spend so much time looking over the fence of our lives, measuring and weighing the missing parts and wanting the green and fertile valley on the other side. The thing to do is to keep our eyes facing forward this side of the fence, hands to the plow before us, and walk on in to each day with the knowledge that there is a purpose and plan for everything in God's world. And, if we should take the time to stop and view the field over the fence, may it be only to whisper a prayer for whomever we should see there working along through their own field of life.

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