On my way to work the other morning it seemed that the squirrels were having a heyday that day. I pass through a resident-ial area every morning as I drive to work. Squirrels were scampering about in every yard that I passed. Some of them were trying to cross the road. One had darted out into the street and was halfway across, but when he heard my car approaching he quickly ran back to where he started from -- back to safety. Another squirrel had just approached the road, but did not try to cross because of the traffic. One dashed all the way across. I was afraid I would hit it -- but he just barely made it.
As I was watching all this, I suddenly thought of the joke - "Why did the chicken cross the road?" Of course we all remember the answer is "to get to the other side." I know it is a corny old joke, but it also made me stop and think. I also thought of the old saying "the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence." These are old clichés- sayings we have heard all of our lives.
We laugh and joke about this but really when you stop and think about it, how true is this to the way we think and feel sometimes? How often do we long to cross the road - to get to the other side? Are we perhaps tempted to cross over and check what is over there? Do we want to see if the grass is truly greener over there? You know, most of the times it's not.
But still we wonder sometimes. Maybe we get tired of always doing the right thing. It would be so much easier to snap back the person from work who always snaps at you. It would be so easy to stand there and laugh at the dirty joke or listen to the gossip - instead of turning and walking out. After all, it is not easy to known as the "goody two shoes." We want to fit in. We don't want to stick out like a sore thumb.
Everyone seems to be having so much fun "over there." The other side of life - where the grass is greener seems to be so much easier. Maybe some of us have been forsaken by our family because we are trying to live the Christian life; because we believe in the Truth - the Way. If we just gave up the straight and narrow maybe we could get back some of what we lost when we became Christians. Yet others of us have not sacrificed nearly so much.
Maybe it just seems like everyone else is having so much more fun than we are. Maybe we would love to sleep late on Sunday mornings and ignore the services of the Lord's church like so many others in the world. Now, I know that many who are reading this may never have any such temptation. The Christian life may not be a struggle for you at all. That's wonderful! I say that with all sincerity.
However, most of us do struggle with something. We are tempted in many ways. The devil works hard; his pull is strong. But the devil is deceitful. What looks like a greener pasture turns out to be dry, brown and brittle from a lack of living water. What we think might be fun turns out to be vain and empty. We soon find ourselves missing the true "good life," - the God-filled, joy filled life.
Sometimes, we get to the edge of the road and then never venture across -- we realize the danger ahead and decide to stay put. Sometimes we may get halfway across and try to live a double life. You know, we may try to stay there in the middle of the road and take parts of both lifestyles. Then somehow we realize the danger of this too and quickly run back to where we came from - back to the safety of God's loving arms.
Some of us just take our chances and run all the way across to what we think is that greener grass. Hopefully, once we get there - we realize that that the devil has fooled us. We see that the grass is not that pretty green we imagined it would be - that there really was no reason to "get to the other side" after all. It is then that we turn back to our God and to His family. We go back to the loving fold of the family of God. He is always there waiting for us.
So the next time you see a squirrel trying to dash across the road - or hear about the grass being greener on the other side of the fence -- remember that squirrel is making the dash at the risk of his own safety. Remember that it is so much more worthwhile to stay right where you are. You are guided by a higher power and your reward will be so much more than a little bit of green grass that turns out not to be so green after all.
Christ above all things,
Robin
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