Greener Pastures

I

The grass is greener on this side.

Where God is.

The psalmist wrote,

"The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside still waters."

So then,

do I long for greener pastures?

Yes,

but not in the way the world has taught me.

When I speak of greener pastures, I do not think of lands beyond the sea, or another version of myself waiting beyond the horizon.

I think of peace.

Of rest.

Of joy that is not shaken by circumstance.

I think of the assurance of a sheep that knows its Shepherd has gone ahead.

The pasture is green because the Shepherd is there.

It is green where mercy has taken root.

It is green wherever the Shepherd leads.

Greener pastures are the everyday goodness of a life shepherded by God.

II

It is not the endless struggle that man has made a measure of worth.

Not the winding road that carries a man across oceans in search of a life he hopes will finally satisfy him.

Not the desperate stowaway hidden beneath the deck of a ship, wagering his life on the promise that another land, must surely be kinder than his own.

Not the daily hustle that wears a man so thin, he forgets what it means to live.

Not waking before sunrise, rushing to catch a bus, working until the day has spent itself, for wages that never seem enough.

Not the desperation that grows from lack into greed, until one man believes his ambition is worth more than another man’s life.

Not promotions.

Not multiple streams of income.

Not the next investment that promises security, yet cannot fill the expanding void.

III

Greener pastures

are where God leads.

Where the Shepherd has searched the land before His sheep arrive.

The Shepherd is the One who searches

for pasture that is ripe and good for His sheep.

He knows where the grass is tender.

He knows where the waters are still.

The sheep do not graze

with one eye fixed on the wolves.

They rest because the Shepherd watches.

By the cool waters they linger and are refreshed.

Across the pasture they graze beneath the Shepherd's watchful eye.

When one wandered,

His rod and His staff

brought it home.

So do I seek greener pastures?

Yes.

Not the one the world chases.

I seek the one where the Shepherd leads,

where He causes me to lie down,

and where my soul discovers, that the greenest pasture

is where God is.

Pause and Reflect

If I gained everything I thought I wanted, but Christ was not there, could I truly call it a greener pasture?

By; Marcia E Vormawor