In
a landscape, once I happened to observe two donkeys grazing in two different
fields, separated by fencing. Tender, green grass grew abundantly in both
the fields. Yet both the donkeys stretched their necks as far
as possible towards the opposite direction through the fence just to be able to
get a bite of that forbidden grass on the other side. It revealed to
me that the old saying, ‘The Grass is always greener on the other side’, or the
forbidden fruit tastes the sweetest.
We
humans have the same tendency. We get more attracted to things, talents,
abilities or opportunities which others have than our own. We
people are never satisfied even with the abundance we have. We
always find the others are far better, their conditions seem more greenish or
attractive to our eyes – the neighbor’s wife, the friend’s sports
car, boss’s beauty bungalow, higher life sep-up of others and so on. See more- PC Thomas Article
On
the other side, these things which we think will make us happy, but when we get
it we may feel empty and unsatisfied. Our freedom, lifestyle and
relations, friendships and bonds, health and situation etc we enjoy daily,
which we take for granted simply because they have been in our lives every day.
We take a lot of emotional stability to be content with what we have.
This
is not mean to say that we should not diligently seek to improve our
circumstances, diligently using our God-given talents and opportunities. But
we should not be discontent with the gifted talents that God has given to us and
don’t try to covet anything belong to others. The key to a
happy life is being content with who we are and where we are right now. Real
contentment does not come when we get everything that we desire, but when we
learn to be satisfied with what we have.
When
we have the conviction that we are living according to the best of our abilities
and hard work, and believe that our best efforts will be fulfilled by the God in
time; our desire to graze on what is beyond the fence will automatically cease
and then the grass out of boundaries would not seem more greenish to our eyes.
This article published in Metro Vaartha on July, 1, 2020
