The grass isn’t greener, it’s just different.
I don’t think this comes as much of a surprise, but I love The Little Mermaid. I love it more than any grown woman should. I watched it so much as a child, that I can still recite every line of the film as I’m watching it.
As a child, I would pretend to be a mermaid. I would try to twirl around underwater, holding my feet together, and imagine so vividly that I was a mermaid in the depths of the sea. If they had had those fancy mermaid tail swim suits back then, I would have lost my mind over them. I may or may not have just added one to my Amazon wish list…
Moving on!
But it wasn’t until my adult life that I found the irony in all of this.
We watched an entire movie about a mermaid who gave up EVERYTHING to be human, and our take-away, as young children, was desperately wanting to be a mermaid…thee very mermaid who so desperately wanted to be human.
I am all for imagination and pretend. I think those are fabulous things! But this example, from The Little Mermaid, is the epitome of the grass is always greener, isn’t it?
This so closely parallels real life, even as adults.
How often do we wish someone else’s journey was our own? How often do we wish to be as thin, or pretty, or tall, or smart, or <insert any perceived positive adjective here> as someone else?
How often do we question God and how He created us, or His plans for us?
If The Little Mermaid has taught me anything, it is that while I am wishing I was her, she is wishing she was me.
Maybe I wish I had a fabulous career, while maybe that career woman longs for children she is struggling to conceive. Maybe I wish we had more money, while maybe that wealthy couple’s marriage is struggling. These are truly just made up examples to show you that we don’t always know someone’s whole story. The grass isn’t greener! So instead of wishing we were other people, maybe we should stop and appreciate who God made us to be, the plan He has for us, and our own personal journey.
Stop trying to be mermaids who would give up their vocal chords to be you.
Well, you get the point.
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