Color Blind

The grass always looks greener on the other side to a color blind person.

Every year in the very beginning of Spring there comes a time when over night grass seems to go from brown and dry to green and lush. I love this time of year because for so long everything appears dead and dry and colorless but then all of a sudden the grass just comes alive! I find myself riding around in my car singing "The green grass grows all around, all around. The green grass grows all around." In fact once the grass turns to green, trees are not far behind and before you know it there is a lush green hue in the air. (Of course if you suffer from pollen then this is not your favorite time of year) It is beautiful!
I could not imagine what it would be like to be color blind. There you are surrounded by new life and yet you could not see the beauty of it. It seems like there would be something missing from life if you were color blind.
I'm not sure why but I find myself always seeing the grass, greener on the other side of the fence. This is something I have noticed in my life for some time now. Even as a child I would go to a store to get a toy. Standing in the isle of the store a dilemma would arise. I would have to make a choice between two toys that I really wanted. After much deliberation I would select my toy and go home, tickled pink with the thought of the fun that was ahead of me. Five minutes after I got home and started playing with the toy, I found myself thinking of the other toy back at the store and all of the fun I could be having if I hadn't settled for this piece of junk! The grass looked greener on the other side.
Then again when I would get a new job, I would pour my heart and soul into it. Every job I ever had I found purpose in it so it was important that I did my best. Plus the pay check was alway nice to put in my pocket. But after awhile I found that the job that once was so important to mankind was not just a stress ball of pointlessness, therefore I would look at other jobs and think how much better life would be if I could work there! The grass looked greener on the other side.
Even now as I sit in Guyana, South America as a missionary. There is no greater calling but if I were to be honest, I would say that if I was working in some other ministry job I could be so much more effective. Things here are frustrating because we came to work with a tribe that has no Bible because they have no alphabet. Yet we got here to find that they have a "church," with a "pastor," who can "read," English and "translate," the Scriptures into Carib. (I put quotes on those words because the church is just a building, the pastor is untrained, he only reads a little, and who knows if his translations are correct) Once again the grass looks greener on the other side.
So what is wrong with me? Do I have some fear of commitment? Do I have some mental block that inhibits me from sticking to something to completion? Am I broken or hopeless or a bad employee? On the contrary, I am color blind! Psalms 118:24 says, "This is the day which the LORD has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it." See today is a special day because today is a day that God created! We are to rejoice and be glad in it! Rejoice! Have a party! Enjoy the day! Could you imagine working at a job where the boss tells to you take the day and just enjoy it, have fun! I think that would be the best job ever. Yet that is what God has done for us. He has made everyday wonderful and beautiful! Sure circumstances will come and go that are hard, painful and life sucking but trials are meant to strengthen our faith. James 1:2-4 says that we can even count those trials as joy.
So the fact that the grass always looks greener on the other side is not that I have a commitment problem or that I am broken. It's just that I'm color blind to the green grass of Life that surrounds me right where I am. When I come to the realization that I am surrounded by Life, people who are unique created in the image of God and beautiful, places that are vibrant and in need of something God has given me, when I understand that I am here not for my own purpose but as part of that day which the LORD has made then I see Life! (John 14:6) My eyes are opened to the color of Life! True Life! Eternal Life! There is a whole world out there just waiting to be discovered and the greatest part about it is that all of it points to the glory of God Almighty! The world is our playground if we will choose to get out there and play in it, or we can miserably stand at the fence and look longingly at the seemingly green grass on the other side. The choice is yours.