The Greener Grass Myth

Have you ever caught yourself looking over the fence, convinced the grass must be greener somewhere else? That's exactly where I found myself recently, until a profound realization stopped me in my tracks: the grass isn't greener on the other side – it's greener where you water it.

Life's pause seasons can feel frustrating, especially in a world where everyone else's highlight reel seems to broadcast constant success. You might find yourself in a pause when your pace slows unexpectedly, when doors you expected to open remain shut, or when everything feels still but your spirit remains restless. Most people misinterpret these pauses as rejection when they're actually protection – sacred space to tend what's already in your hands.

The journey to greener grass begins with pulling the weeds – those lies you've believed, habits that drain you, and relationships that choke your growth. It means feeding the soil of your spirit, mind, and body through reading, rest, prayer, and learning. Growth happens not in occasional floods but through daily watering – those small, consistent acts of discipline and self-compassion. Sometimes, watering even means stepping back and giving your roots permission to breathe, trusting that dormancy isn't death but preparation for the next season.

What makes this message so powerful is recognizing that everyone's lawn has different soil, different sunlight needs, and different optimal growing conditions. What flourishes for someone else might not be what's meant to grow for you. Your grass needs your water, not someone else's formula. So I challenge you: identify where in your life the grass is thirsty – your health, relationships, creativity, or spiritual life – and start watering it with small, consistent acts. The pause isn't punishment; it's permission to water what's been neglected. And when you look back, you'll see it wasn't wasted time but the season your roots grew deepest.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Oh, I caught you just in time because you were
getting ready to look over thefence.
You were getting ready to seeif the grass is truly greener on
the other side.
But here's the truth the grassis only greener where you water
it.
So today we are talking aboutwhen life places you in a pause
no, I'm not talking about a stop, but a pause and instead of

(00:24):
comparing yourself to someoneelse's highlight reel, you start
tending to your own soil,because when you water your own
grass, you don't have time toenvy anybody else's.
See, I don't know if it's justme.
That's in this place where itseems like this season is

(00:47):
extremely long.
Yes, we are in the summertimeand yes, it has been extremely
hot outside, but it's also beenone of those seasons where we
have been getting a lot of rainfor it to be summertime, right.
We've been getting a lot ofrain for it to be summertime,
right.
We've been getting a lot ofrain this year, and I had a

(01:10):
dream where the grass wasextremely green and then there
was a sprinkler system outsideand I don't know if you all have
that where it kind of goes fromone side to the other, the
water kind of rises and goesback to the other side and then

(01:30):
it just kind of does that, butit's watering the grass.
The grass was nice and lush andgreen, and it reminded me that
sometimes we will focus in oneveryone else's grass except for
our own.
I know that there's a videothat kind of goes around where
it talks about when a man hearsone of his neighbors start the

(01:56):
lawnmower and it's almost likeit's competition of whose yard
is going to look the best, andnot realizing that your yard
will always look the best if youcontinue to just tend to it.
And so I just want us torecognize the post-season that

(02:19):
we're in.
So I need you to just take asecond and recognize it.
I need you to acknowledge thatthis may be where you currently
are, and sometimes that pauseshows up when your pace slows
and you didn't choose it.

(02:39):
It sometimes shows up when thedoors that you expected to open
don't, or when things feel still, but inside your spirit is just
a little restless.
See, most people miss this.
They think the pause is arejection.
But the pause is actually yourprotection and God's saying I'm

(03:01):
giving you space to tend towhat's already in your hands.
My gosh, let me say that, again, god is giving you space to
tend to what's already in yourhands.
So, instead of you staring atsomeone else's lawn, notice.

(03:23):
Is your own grass drying out?
Is it patchy?
Are you trying to run into newterritory while your roots are
starving?
Now, I don't want to call anynames out, I don't want to point
at you, but if this is you, goahead and raise your hand

(03:43):
wherever you are.
But sometimes it feels like,when things are going a certain
way in our lives, that we beginto focus in on the good things
that are going on in someoneelse's life, but you don't
realize what season they may bein and what season they have

(04:07):
just come out of.
See, especially in this agewhere we can kind of scroll and
everything appears to be peachy,keen and everybody's life is
just going absolutely amazingand nothing is going wrong.
But what happens when they turnthat live off?
What happens to the 80% oftheir life that they do not post

(04:32):
on social media?
See, it's the 20% that theyhave decided to share.
And you have taken that 20% andfeel like their life is just
going all the right way, the waythat you will want your life to
go.
But what if they had a pauseseason as well, and in their

(04:54):
pausing, they took time to tendto their grace, they took time
to do the necessary things whilein that season.
So when that season does indeedend because I promise you it
does that they now havesomething to show for it.
They now have that grass thateverybody is looking at, and

(05:16):
it's okay to gaze at the grass,but I don't want you to become
envious of what it is that theyhave because you don't know what
they had to do in order to getto where they are.
So I'm going to encourage youtoday and to share with you
today how to water your owngrass.
It's going to be practical, Ipromise you, and I need you to

(05:40):
understand what does it mean towater your grass in the polls,
you to understand what does itmean to water your grass in the
polls.
See, one of the things,especially for me.
I can share that I don't likebeing outside where there are
bugs.
I know right, I just said Idon't like being outside where

(06:11):
there are bugs, but that's wherethey live.
And so here I am, where I havea small, small yard, but I do
have flowers, and so where thereare my rose bushes and things
like that.
Weeds grow, and can I just telly'all that it took forever for
me to go outside to pull theweeds.
Why?
Because I don't like bugs, Idon't want them to be on me, I

(06:35):
don't want to see them, but yetI'm outside where they are.
But I'll tell you why it's soimportant, for the number one
thing that you can do, do orstep number one, I should say is
to pull the weeds.
Weeds are the lies that you'vebelieved, the habits that drain

(06:58):
you, the relationships thatchoke your growth.
So, before you water, you'vegot to clear the space.
Because, can I share somethingwith you?
When you water the flowers,guess what?
And you don't pluck up theweeds, you are also watering the

(07:18):
weeds.
And can I tell you that weedsseem to grow faster than the
flowers.
Why is that?
But you can't just do one andnot do the other.
You can't look at the beauty inthe flowers if they are being

(07:39):
choked out by the weeds that aresurrounding them.
And so sometimes in our lives,everything may look a certain
way.
But can I just ask you, arethere some weeds that you need
to pull up?
So what weeds keep growing back?
Because you won't uproot them.

(08:00):
That's the other thing y'all.
Uproot them that's the otherthing, y'all.
You can go in and just startsnatching weeds, but for
whatever reason, those littlesuckers have deep roots, and so
you may think that you arepulling up the weed, but you
didn't pull up the root to it.
You didn't pull up what's goingto cause that thing to come

(08:23):
back and look like a monstersoon.
So you have to go in and do thenecessary work.
Now, remember, I told you thatI don't like going out and doing
yard work because I don't likebugs.
So what did I do?
I went on to Amazon and found atool that will help me to pull

(08:45):
up the weeds.
So it was saving my back, butit was also making sure that I
was not just going out andpulling up the weeds, but that
it went down deep into the soilso that it could pull up the
weed at the root.
So sometimes there are going tobe some tools that we need, and

(09:05):
your first tool is going to bethe question that you ask
yourself, which I've alreadyasked, but I will say it again
what weeds keep growing backbecause you won't uproot them?
The second thing that you needto do is feed the soil.
The soil that's going to beyour spirit, your mind, your
body.
You're going to have to pourinto it.

(09:26):
And how do you pour into it?
Reading, resting, praying, tojournal, invest in, learning
something new.
So oftentimes we just kind ofgo through our day and we have
these daily checklists of thethings that we want to
accomplish.

(09:46):
But what if you needed to justlearn something new?
Give your mind something new tofocus in on?
So, as you have pulled theweeds up and as you are feeding
your mind, body and your spirit,there are going to be some
things that you need to do.
Spirit, there are going to besome things that you need to do

(10:08):
and there are going to be someways that you need to invest in.
You See, most people overlookthat tending to the soil is the
invisible work that producesvisible results later.
It's those things that you dothat no one else sees.
It's those things that you dowhen you close the blinds and

(10:30):
you are sitting down and readingor taking a class and you are
working on you.
So that's going to be numbertwo.
The third thing that you need todo is water daily, not
occasionally.
So I need you to stop waitingfor that big breakthrough moment
.
See, growth happens in micromoves.

(10:51):
Those weeds that I was talkingabout.
They don't just sprout upovernight.
The flowers don't just sproutup overnight.
It requires those small sips ofdiscipline, consistency,
kindness to yourself, each andevery day.
So you're going to have toremember to water you.

(11:13):
It's not what you do once in awhile, it's what you do
consistently.
That keeps the grass alive.
See, I talked about.
You know that we have beengetting some a lot of rainy
weather, but then there havealso been some days where it's
been extremely hot.
So what happens when it'sextremely hot outside but then

(11:37):
you're not watering the grass?
What?
What tends to happen?
The grass burns, the grass diesbecause it's now at a deficit
for needing to be watered, andso we want to make sure that we
are watering daily.
Number four let the rootsbreathe.

(11:58):
See, sometimes watering meansstepping back.
It means giving yourselfpermission to rest.
A pause does not mean laziness,it means restoration.
See, god built in the Sabbathfor a reason, and your roots

(12:19):
need space to breathe.
Stop always just doing stuffjust to be doing it.
Stop being busy just to be busy.
Take a moment to just breathe.
Number five I need you, as hardas it can be sometimes, to trust

(12:40):
the season.
Grass does not stay green yearround.
Winter comes and it looks dead,but it's not.
It's preparing.
It has gone into a dormantstate, but the roots are still

(13:00):
solid.
The roots are waiting for thenext season and this is why,
when you are going into the fallseason, you will come in and
you will aerate the lawn.
You will come in and you willoverseed, you will begin to do
some heavy watering.
You will do all of these thingsknowing that winter is coming.

(13:23):
Well, why do you think that youwill come in and aerate when
you know that this season isgetting ready to end?
You're coming in, you'reaerating and you're overseeding.
Why?
Because even during the winterseason, there is still growth.

(13:43):
So don't mistake dormancy fordeath.
Your pulse may be a season ofhidden growth, and I just want
you to realize that seasons comeand seasons go right.
We say it all the time.
And then there are things thatjust happen in certain seasons.

(14:05):
Pay attention to where you are.
See.
Oftentimes there are things thatwe overlook, especially when it
comes to watering.
So they think that watering isonly external, when really the
deepest watering is internal.

(14:27):
Folks think that they wantquick results, but watering
takes patience.
So you can't flood your yardonce a month and call it growth.
So you can't flood your yardonce a month and call it growth.
That's not going to work.
Another thing that people tendto overlook is that they compare
their season to someone else's,without realizing that every

(14:49):
lawn has a different type ofsoil, different sunlight,
different climate.
What grows for them may not bewhat's supposed to grow for you.
Can you imagine me being herein the Washington DC area and
I'm trying to grow a palm tree?
It may grow, but this is notthe proper climate for a palm

(15:14):
tree to grow.
Just like they have differentblades of grass, different grass
that will grow in differenthumidities, that need more
sunlight, you have to payattention to what is needed for
you, and let me just tell you,friends, that your grass needs

(15:34):
you to water, not someone else.
Needs your water, I apologize,not someone else's formula.
So here's my challenge for youto stop chasing the greener yard
.
I need you to water your ownown.

(15:57):
Now I need you to ask yourselfa quick question when in your
life is the grass thirsty?
Is it your health?
Is it your prayer life, yourfriendships, your creativity.
Pick one area this week andstart watering it with small,

(16:17):
consistent acts.
Because the truth is, the pauseisn't punishment, it's
permission, permission to waterwhat's been neglected.
And when you look back you seethe pause wasn't wasted.
It was the season your rootsgrew the deepest, so until next

(16:38):
time grew the deepest, so untilnext time.
Remember, the grass is greenerwhere you water it and the pause
is where you learn how.