Lawn Maintenance: Don’t Lose Sight Of Your Blessing

Insight 57 | (The Grass Might Actually Be Greener On YOUR Side)

From where I sit, at my kitchen counter, I have a clear view of my family's backyard.

It sits there, a lovely and lush length soaking in the warm sun's rays, reminding me of just how beautiful life is. I would be content to pull out a lawn chair and sit right here while I listen to the birds chirp, read a good book, and sip on some icy lemonade.

Now, that would be a great plan if it weren't for the fact that from where I'm sitting, I can also see my neighbor's verdant and immaculate lawn with its perfectly trimmed blades of emerald green putting my own to shame. This annoys me.

While I can't say that his grass is necessarily any greener than mine, I must testify that his perfectly kept lawn made mine look rather unkempt, like a first grader's messy hair after practice.

But here's the thing: I know my lawn is great, I am aware of its potential, and I have seen it in all its fertilized splendor before. So what exactly was going on here?

See, in this moment I realized, it wasn't that the grass was greener on the other side, it was that I had lost sight of my side of the turf and had stopped taking care of it. I let my complacency take over, and my “I'll do it later” excuses pile on top of one another, while the man next door diligently pulled out a lawn mower and tidied his domain.

I had been losing sight of my blessings, craving those of someone else, while forgetting to take care of what I had right in front of me. The grass isn't always greener; sometimes yours just needs a trim.

Blessings come and go; they are given and taken away, but at any given moment, if a blessing is within our possession, it is our duty to tend and nurture it in order to nudge it along towards fruition. 

When we don’t use our gifts, they lose their value in our eyes (although they have not lost their worth in reality). This amnesia leads us to become jealous of what others have, envious of what we think should be ours, and without realizing it, sets us miles away from the purposeful path we were perfectly walking just moments before.

In other words, blessings are nice, but they require user input to maintain; when we don't, our inability to do so leads to mental moroseness. When we fail to constantly remind ourselves that these gifts are good and ours to cultivate (therefore we have no need to worry about what others might be doing), we trade what's already ours, sitting right in front of us, for anxious ambiguity and irritability that only poisons us. It's trading our birthright for a plate of lentils, darling.

Now, to combat this, a special effort is required, one in which we constantly chip away at what has been given to us, progressively realizing the greater good hidden within, until one day the sculpture is completed and revealed to the world as your honest and beautiful life's work. 

This is similar to what Michelangelo underwent with the infamous David. Infamous indeed, as two other sculptors had attempted the work before and declared the piece of marble from which it was being brought out, unusable (Agostino di Duccio in 1463 and Antonio Rossellino in 1475).

Later, Michelangelo would say, "I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.” This sentiment is the exact attitude we must adopt if we are to navigate this life without being discouraged by the flaunting others may partake in. It's on us to keep our eyes on our piece of marble and carve until we set the angel inside it free.

Speaking of David, the historical and Biblical one, here is a man who saw one of the greats of his time fall prey to this poison: Jealousy, the losing sight of YOUR blessing. David is a man who saw his nation's king fall and then rose to take his place instead. While many are familiar with the story of his confrontation with Goliath, I'd like to take a different approach to the narrative and instead focus on the character of Saul, the first King of Israel. 

See, the original plan was not for the biblical nation of Israel to have a king like the surrounding countries. God, instead, had set them apart as His special people and led them through a series of prophets and judges who would communicate His will to the people throughout the years. Eventually, they grew tired, saw the grass on the other side, thought it was greener (it was most definitely not), and told Daddy they wanted “that toy” instead.

God, being the gracious father he is, warned the people against this decision, but after their persistence, permitted the people to have a king and directed Samuel, the nation's prophet (at the time), to anoint Saul to this office.

“When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord told him, “Here is the man of whom I spoke to you! He it is who shall restrain my people.” - 1st Samuel 9:17

Up to this point in the story, all is well, and Saul rises and becomes the man God has called him to be. He graciously accepts this gift from the Lord, defeats the nations that had been oppressing Israel, and helps usher in peace. This only lasts about four chapters as he becomes impatient and tries to rush things at his speed, moving ahead too quickly, placing his plans above the Lord's and losing favor with God as a result:

“But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.” - 1st Samuel 13:14

It is here that Saul begins down the dangerous path of losing sight of his blessing, and from here it only gets worse. Saul, left without the promise of a kingdom, spirals into less and less of a man each day, just as a nobody shepherd boy rises to take his place.

Now, Saul could have done a few things here, the first being a genuine repenting of his ways, a serious ego check, and a reocniclaiton with the Lord, this all may have corrected the situation and appealed to the Lords Mercy, but let’s say him losing the kingdom was set in stone, well, he at least would have had the choice on how he wanted to go out… And he chose violence.

He could not stand the sight of the small-time pasture boy receiving more fame as the masses shouted, “Saul has killed his thousands, and David his ten thousands!” No, he lost himself in comparison and not only lost his kingdom but his joy too. Soon enough, he was driven into madness, which made things worse as the only thing that could soothe him was the music played by the very man he envied and grew to hate.

Isn’t it ironic that everyone else in the land wanted to be just like Saul, the King? But Saul lost his title, thinking he would never be “like him”, David, a shepherd boy.

Saul lost himself in his desire to become someone he was never meant to be. 

---

They say the grass is always greener on the other side, and while most of us never have the ability to pinpoint who “they” are, we nevertheless drive ourselves into lunacy attempting to please the masses while forgetting that the very things we have at our fingertips are what we should be striving to protect and nurture.

We look around to see what everyone else has going for them all the while, losing sight of our blessings, letting them run around unattended and loose until one day we wake up to find them tangled and unrecognizable. See, your grass is already green; it's just overgrown and in need of a cut. 

This is what King Saul forgot, and it led to him to not only losing his kingdom but also losing his joy …all because he lost sight of his blessing. 

Let us not fall prey to the same.

- Making The Most Of Being Curious

Daniel J. Cuesta

P.S. I asked that very same neighbor, the one with “perfectly trimmed blades of emerald green”,  if I could borrow his lawn mower; he said yes, and the lawn has been taken care of. Blessing Secured. Thx, Rick and Nicole.

Sources:

You Focus On YOU: Let each person examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in himself alone, and not in comparison with someone else. - Galatians 6:4

Importance of Stewardship: Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. - 1 Corinthians 4:2

The Dangers of Envy (Losing sight of YOUR Blessing): 

• For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. - James 3:16

• A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh, but envy makes the bones rot. - Proverbs 14:30

Benefits Of Diligence: The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied. -  Proverbs 13:4

The David: Link