7.24.11--The Grass Is Always Greener... Right?

Jess is working for four different families as a babysitter and nanny right now. She is definitely staying busy, and God bless her for it, because I could not spend all of my day with other peoples’ kids! I don’t know how people do it, and I have nothing but the utmost respect for elementary school teachers, day care workers, and nannies. It takes a certain type of person to be able not only to put up with kids, but love them in spite and despite of their immaturity as they develop into young men and women. One of the families that she nannies for have been exceptionally welcoming and hospitable to us, going so far as to invite us over for dinner and even to stay overnight at their beach house this summer. We’ve had a wonderful time getting to know all of them, and we’ve even brought two of the kids to church with us a couple of times!

A couple of weeks’ ago, Jess and I went out to the beach house, not to babysit, but to check it out and spend some time in the water. Almost immediately upon arriving there, the two older kids, one thirteen and the other sixteen, started complaining to us about how there was nothing to do when they were at the beach house. They were away from their friends, couldn’t get a job because they weren’t out there long enough, and they didn’t have anything to occupy their time while their parents were at work. I looked out the window at the pool, saw through the tree line that separated their house from the beach, and decided that they had to joking. 

How could you say you had nothing to do when you were twenty steps from both a pool and a beach? I would be outside in the water every minute that I could be, enjoying the sun and enjoying the cool water. And yet both of them spend most of their time inside the condo, either playing video games or watching tv! What’s wrong with this?

The more I think about it, though, the more I realized that I can’t really hold this against them. Yeah, I can easily say that in their shoes, I’d be a whole lot more thankful for the blessing of a house on the beach. As an outsider looking in, I can easily say that I would see how awesome it is having both a pool and a beach less than a stone’s throw from my front door. But I’m also positive that it would be easy for someone looking at my life to find aspects for which I should be more thankful or blessings that I should so quickly discount.

We all fall prey to that in life, don’t we? That mindset that the grass is always greener wherever we are not. It’s not that we’re all hardcore pessimists, we just see the realities of our lives and we voice that everything is not right in the world.

Like the fact that it is hot! Too hot, in my opinion, and the A/C’s in my car and house cannot cool fast enough for me. That fact that I am privileged enough to have an air conditioner at all never crosses my mind. I spend too much time complaining that I’m still sweating to remember this blessing.

In our chapter this week, we moved into the second book of the Bible, Exodus. We were there for the birth of Moses, and watched him grow up a Hebrew in Pharaoh’s household. We were exiled with him after he killed an Egyptian slave-driver, and we witnessed the hospitality and kindness of Jethro, the Midianite priest, who welcomes Moses into his household and gives his oldest daughter to him in marriage. We encountered God in the burning bush, and heard from the flames that God saw the suffering of the Israelites, heard their cries, and felt their pain. We lived through the plagues, and shouted with Moses at Pharaoh to “Let my people go!”

Did anyone else have flashbacks to the Dream Works’ movie, The Prince of Egypt?

Then, when finally we witnessed the Israelites’ flight into freedom, it seems like all they want to do is complain.

 “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? ... What are we to drink? … If only we had died by the LORD’S hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death. … Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?”

Moses! It’s too hot! Moses! We’re hungry! Moses! We’re thirsty! Moses! There’s nothing to do at this beach house!

They’ve completely forgotten that they were slaves in Egypt, dying horrible, drawn-out deaths, and that Moses was the instrument that God used to save them.

You would think that they would be focusing on their redemption, their salvation from the Egyptians. You would think they would be reveling in the glory of what God had done for them. Sending plagues. Parting the waters of the sea. Dropping down mana from heaven. They might have to put up with some hardships, but wow! God is really going out of the way to make sure they survive and flourish. How about a little thankfulness?

And the sad thing is that, as we will see in the weeks to come, the Israelites fall prey to this over and over again throughout their history as God’s chosen people. And even sadder, we fall prey to it over and over again, both individually and as the church.

Friends, we have the chance to learn a valuable lesson from the Israelites in Exodus: we have the chance to learn the lesson of thankfulness. When we find ourselves complaining about our current situations in life, when we find ourselves thinking about how good others have or how much better our lives could be, the story of the Israelites in Exodus can serve as the reminder that we have a lot going for us, and we should be joyful and thankful for the blessings in our lives.

Jesus Himself reminds us of this as well. In His famous Sermon on the Mount, Christ reminds His listeners not to worry about the things of this world, for their Father will provide for them. Hear His words again from Matthew 6:25-34:

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

Christ uses this as a message about not worrying, but the same message can most definitely be used as a call against complaining and bickering.

Besides, we have it pretty good in life.

My first true mission trip was during the summer after I graduated from high school. I was in inner city San Antonio with a group of about 60 other people, and we were ministering to the homeless community at Travis Park, about a mile from the Alamo. It was a hot day in June, and we were all sweating up a storm and trying to stay in the shade as much as possible. I remember one of the people we encountered there was a mom, who was trying desperately to take care of and hold on to her two kids even though they were living on the street. She came out to talk with us, and we shared our stories, our water, and our pizza with her and her kids. She noticed a number of the girls in our party were complaining about getting sunburnt, and she pulled out a bottle of sunscreen and shared it with them.

This woman who didn’t have a place to sleep was sharing with those who would soon go back into their air-conditioned homes. It moved me, and reminded me of just how lucky I am and how good I have it.

The Israelites could have learned much from this woman.

So may you remember the lesson of the Israelites in Exodus. When you find yourself troubled about your life’s situation, may you be able to take a step back and focus on the blessings around you. May you see that the God who rescued and provided for the Israelites loves you enough to do the same for you. And may you rejoice and trust in this God for every aspect of your life, even when it seems like the grass is greener on the other side.