It’s a strange phenomenon to step into a world completely different than the one you are accustomed to. Especially when you are embracing the beauty that others despise. The grass is always greener on the other side they say.
I come from America, the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave. Where the lure of the American dream haunts many desperate souls seeking to better their lives. If only they land on our soil and dirt, where jobs are endless and rags to riches is a reality, or so it is perceived.
“Why is it so hard to get into your country? It’s easy for Americans to come here to Ghana, but we have so much trouble getting our visas approved. All we want to do is come and work so we can better support our families,” lamented an African school teacher I met while out evangelizing to the town.
Yet this “greener grass” is the field that I left, seeking my own greener grass amongst third world countries.
“Do you really love Ghana? You don’t have to lie. Your people feel like they have to lie and say that they like it here, but they really don’t,” questioned another local.
“Yes,” I replied intently, “I really do! Your country is beautiful! I love all of the trees!”
“There are so many trees because we aren’t developed…” he responded almost ashamedly.
I then ventured to explain to him that the green grass he so craved isn’t as green as he thought. It’s easy to look at America and think that we have everything because we have money and material things. Discontentment, longing for the forbidden fruit, always wanting more to satisfy the ache in our souls is a tactic long used by the enemy. Greed and lust fuel our souls, but the more we fill ourselves up, the emptier we become. It’s fire feeding fire. America may be land of the free physically, but not spiritually. Success, money, and fame are vicious idols that devour joy and leaves their victims lifeless, empty, and broken. I explained to my new friend that we worship materialism and comfort in America. Look at Hollywood. The stars and people we idolize and envy are some of the most unhappy people in the world. Why else would they turn to marriage to marriage, partying, and other substance abuse? The lifes of many end shorter than they should by an overdose or by taking it themselves because the pain is too much to bear. If fame isn’t the key to happiness, what about working hard to accomplish the famed American Dream?
“I also love Ghana because the people are so friendly! People are so much more hospitable and welcoming here,” I countered, desperate for him to see the truth.
“It’s because many people here don’t work so they have time to talk. In America, everyone is always busy and working,” he replied.
Work is good, and a biblical principle. But to what avail?
To what degree does it become an idol? People work hard and have cars and houses and smart phones. The items themselves aren’t inherently evil. But when these things consume our desire and compete for our attention against our families and relationships, especially with God, they are bitter idols that rob us of true joy and contentment. We drive a car, but do we have a spiritual drive to pursue the Kingdom of God? We have a house we live in, but are we so consumed with stuffing it full of material goods that it never becomes a home full of memories? We have smart phones but we are becoming dumb at interacting with the person sitting across the table from us, our attention fixated on a screen and void viritual world. We are missing something.
A week before I met these men, I met a woman on the streets of Ghana. She was bent over, picking up trash from a tangled mess of weeds. She was clothed in a tank top riddled with small holes as a result of wear and a piece of fabric wrapped around her frail waist as a skirt. We had stepped over the gutter than ran less than two feet from her house to talk to her, with the odor fresh in our nostrils. Upon our arrival, she immediately stood up and greeted us with open arms and sparkling eyes. In her beautiful language she welcomed us to Ghana. We asked her how she was doing. She proudly answered “Fine, fine, fine!” with a smile that radiated light so bright in what many would consider a dark and desperate place.
She was a fellow sister in Christ, as I presumed by the life that she exuded. Through our translator, we were able to step into her world and praise the Lord with her. We prayed for her leg to be healed, for she walked around with a limp probably for many years. Although she was not healed in that moment, when I asked her how she was feeling, she jumped up and down with her beautifully weathered from work hands raised in the air and proclaimed
“God is good good good!”
Though she lived in conditions well below the poverty line in America, in a small house and wore clothing worn with holes, she had more joy than I have ever seen. She was truly content with her life, not because of the things she had or didn’t have, but because of the One who had her heart. She was clothed in love and a gentle spirit, beaming with joy. She did not envy America or look for greener grass, because the Lord made her rest in a field of green in His presence.
And that is how God showed me what true riches are, riches in the dirt. For from the dust, God made man, and to the dust we return. We don’t get to take with us what we’ve stored up here on Earth, but rather we are to store up for ourselves treasure in Heaven.
Dirt, dirt always on my feet from living in Teva sandals and walking down dirt roads, the dirt is a field of green when I am being led by my Shepherd into true joy. Here I work to bring forth the Kingdom of God, to share the gospel and reap a harvest of souls. Here I don’t drive a car but have to rely on the generosity of my brothers and sisters in Christ to give me a ride to a place that I can walk. Here I look into the eyes of the person before me instead of at a screen, and my smart phone is used merely as a tool to capture a moment of beauty.
Here, living beyond myself, is where the grass is truly green.
