Where You Want to Be

 

I was thinking this week about how many people are not where they want to be. They may have talents or skills that are not being used, or desires that are not being fulfilled. I fall into that at times, feeling like my skills are being wasted staying at home not using them. Is that the right mindset to have? Should we pursue what we want or where our skills lie, or is there more to the equation?

 

The Grass Is Always Greener...

It is easy to get caught up in the “grass is greener on the other side of the fence” mentality. Envy can get us in a lot of trouble and misery. Unfortunately, often the difference is only our perception and there is no real difference in truth. What is the alternative to envy? What if the grass really is greener elsewhere? Then what do we do?

 

1 Timothy 6:6-8 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content.

Hebrews 13:5 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,”

 

The cure for envy is contentedness. If we are happy with what we have, it won’t matter what others have, even if it really is better. How can we be content? By remembering that we have God, who supplies everything we need and delights in blessing us. He doesn’t always give us what we want, but He always gives us what is best for us, and that is better. The trick is that we have to be aware of what He has given us, noticing the blessings we have received and acknowledging them as such. We could be hit in the face with the greatest gift, but if we have a bad attitude and a complaining heart we won’t see it as a blessing. We need to be aware of what God is doing and grateful for all we have. Our attitude makes all the difference in how we see things.

 

Sometimes the grass really is greener on the other side, and that is usually our fault. Grass is greenest where it is watered. So if our grass isn’t so green, it is because we neglected it. This could apply to anything in life; family, marriage, relationships, work, church, faith, etc. If we want something to be good, we have to put the effort into making it good. We can’t sit back and just expect the extraordinary to happen on its own.

 

Have you watered your grass lately? Are you content with what you have? Put some work into what you have, and at the same time express gratitude for what you have. Try to see God’s blessings in everything and cultivate your side so that it is the best it can be without worrying about the rest.

A Letter to the Longing

I want to take a break from my series on marriage to write a post for those who are not married (granted this really applies to everyone but especially to those not married).

There has been a tantalizing lie going around (for decades) that you need to be in a relationship to be happy, and that being married will make you happy and your life will be wonderful. I am one of many that bought into that lie and spent most of my life after the age of…well, too young, desiring and fantasizing about having a boyfriend and getting married. Unfortunately, my father was one of the biggest proponents of this idea who has fueled that longing ever since I was a teenager. I never dated until my mid twenties (not because I didn’t want to), when I met the man I am now married to. And dating was wonderful!, probably the best year of my life. But the problem is that we were not made to be fulfilled by human relationships, so the bliss of dating only increased the heartache when I finally came to the point where that relationship no longer fulfilled me the way it had.