The Grass is Always Greener

If you have not heard this expression (or more accurately, half expression), then feel free to google it. I'm sure you will find it. The reality is that we are always looking for the next big thing. It is chronically within us to be discontented with that which we have.

As a child I learned (and as an adult I'm still working on learning) the Ten Commandments (or, as my overly-snobby-in-education friends call it, The Decalogue). As a child I questioned how you could go from Having no other God’s before me to You shouldn’t covet your neighbor’s stuff and think the commandments were of equal merit. As an adult, I am learning that the numbering of the commandments is nice, but most of them get down to the same core (ie, we want other people’s stuff [or worship idols or use the Lord’s name in vain or break the Sabbath or don’t honor our parents or murder or commit adultery or steal or lie] BECAUSE we have those things placed above God).

So, it comes as no surprise to me that some people’s depravity leads them to want things that other people have. Built within that is, of course, the fact that we don’t want what we have. And while as a general statement that does not surprise me, I am shocked at some of the specific things that people do with their own dissatisfaction.

Right about now is when somebody starts to tell me that we need to fight complacency. While I think there is that danger, I don’t feel that is what we’re dealing with. I think a good article on that can be read here. Nevertheless, I feel that we need to be content with what we have, and I see a culture over-run with examples that this not the case.

WARNING! YOU MAY NOT LIKE SOME OF THE EXAMPLES I GIVE HERE.

This really dawned on me, as I battled insomnia early this morning (or, if you prefer, late last night). I saw commercials on Phone a Date lines, cosmetic surgery, and then several pills you might take. The crazy thing is these pills were for things like hair loss and the possible side effects were things like heart palpitations, dizziness, and anal leakage. (I was watching ESPN, I promise)! Now, what kind of crazy person would risk any of those things just to insure a full head of hair? In addition, I am floored at how much money people would spend just to color their hair or wear a super undershirt that hides your fat, or any other of a myriad of things that just masks the deficiency about which we are ashamed.

That hour of ESPN, where I learned all kinds of great things about the world of Sports, was more significant in that I learned about the gross coveting occurring in culture. We aren’t just content to want our neighbor’s yard or a new iPad or something else, we’ve got to throw away our hair situation, fatness, or whatever else we dislike with the risk of something much worse. This kind of crazy logic scares me. How can I live in a planet with such gross disdain for what it has? If only I could have a better planet to live on.:)