Greener grass

"The grass is not greener on the other side, it's greenest where you water it!" - Robert Fulghum

Sean and I are incredibly blessed - a solid marriage, secure jobs, loving families, a church home we adore, a growing group of supportive friends in Fayetteville. We certainly don't deserve these things, but are incredibly thankful they are each a part of our lives right now. In yesterday's sermon on marriage at Cross Church Fayetteville, our pastor shared the above quote with us and I can't stop thinking about it. He was using it in reference to marriage and the importance of investing in your spouse to help protect against outside cultural influences, but it's applicable in many situations. My mind tends to always wander to the future - where will we move next, what if any job will I take after this one, when will we start a family, etc. While those aren't bad to think about, they literally consume my thoughts sometimes and cause me to miss out on the now. I feel like I'm always looking for the next exciting moment instead of investing in people and relationships today and trusting that God has me where I am for a purpose.

Right now I'm in a study with a group of women my age working through Beth Moore's Daniel study. It's. So. Good. We are only in week three, but I've already taken a lot out of it. The first half of this study compares Babylon to our current culture - one that values success, beauty, youth and intelligence. Daniel stood firm in the face of many cultural temptations. Beth describes Daniel as "culturally relevant without being spiritually irrelevant." Don't you love that? She also gave a challenge to "do something on purpose, or don't do it at all." I think I'm going to put that in a picture frame at our house!

Our modern day Babylonian mindset would have us believe that the grass is greener on the other side. If only we worked harder, looked better, were smarter, etc. It's going to be my prayer that I not always be looking for the next best thing, the greener grass, but rather that I desire to be exactly where He wants me. I'm not sure what that will look like and imagine it might be quite different that how I pictured my life. He knows a lot more than me, so I'm cool taking a back seat on this one. :)