Sunday, May 17, 2015

Bonus Post - Why the Grass Is Greener

In my previous blog post, I used the phrase "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence." When I did, it occurred to me why that might be true. If your neighbor's grass is greener than yours is, that's probably because they water it.

If you've ever wondered how a musician became so talented, how a genius became so smart, or how a millionaire became so rich, it may be because they practiced, studied, and worked for it. Yes, there was probably some luck involved in helping them find their talents or opportunities to thrive, but even then, most of them had to work to be as successful as they are. If we're not willing to put forth the extra effort to become great, we shouldn't complain that those who are have greener grass than ours.

On the other hand, green grass can be a bad thing. During the drought in California, we've stopped watering our lawn, while others haven't. As a result, our lawn has grown to no longer be quite as green as theirs. But in this drought, I consider our tan lawn a badge of honor. It shows that we're willing to make sacrifices to conserve water. When I see other, greener lawns, I wonder how much water they spray over their lawn so their lawn could stay green. There's only so much water left in California, and it's not getting replenished as quickly as we're using it, and that's partly because some people are still watering their lawns.

Whether our grass is green because we water it or brown because we don't, the shade of our lawns say a lot about us. It shows how hard we're willing to work to improve ourselves and how much we're willing to consume so we can look good compared to others. As children of God, we should improve our talents, but we shouldn't make a big show about it. Our inner lawns should be as green as we can make them, but it doesn't really matter whether our outer lawns turn brown.

1 comment:

Rozy Lass said...

My mission president used to say "The grass is indeed greener over there, but it's just as hard to mow." Have always loved that.