Bird Brain

Yesterday I watched the Met's production of Puccini's La Rondine. The plot was basically about a woman, Magda, who had everything except true love. She meets a man who seems to fill her every dream and leaves everything she has to live this alternate life she has always desired. La Rondine, the swallow, flies from the safety and comfort of her nest to find something else. To make a beautiful and long story short, she ends up empty and discontent with this new life and decides to go back to what she had. Obvioulsy there was much more fanfare than that...it's opera:)

However, it got me thinking about being truly content. Are you truly content with your life? Or is the grass greener on the other side for you? A couple days ago I was sitting on my dock with Amanda, my lovely gf, and for once instead of gazing at the sunset on the lake, we were looking back towards the house. Upon looking at our lawn she said, "I never realized the grass was so green." Now you need to know that our lawn is nice, but it is no landscaping marvel. Like most Florida lawns you can find plenty of scorched brown among the green. However, from the distance we were at, all you could really see was the overall color: green.

Sometimes we are discontent with where we are because the brown is so evident to us. We gaze elsewhere and see how much greater it is "over there." Not only is this a sad waste of time and energy, but also a dangerous distraction. Like Magda, many of us may dream of leaving our humble nest and flying to something, someone, some place, that seems more fulfilling. Yet, when we get there we realize it is not all we thought it was. Instead of this flighty behavior, we must learn to be content where we are and seek the beauty of God instead of the beauty of a far off land. If we would stop hopping around staring at the brown blades and would use our wings to get a bird's eye view we might realize that the place where we live has an overall color: green.

Don't be a birdbrain. Love your life. After all, God fashioned it. True, there may be some seriously rough patches, but if you have patience and let Him have control, He can take care of those. Don't fly the coop...renovate it!