Lookin' Good

Grass is grass, right? Mmmmmmmmmmm...not really. See, from the road, our yard doesn't look any different from our neighbor's lawn. I mean, her yard looks green, our yard looks green. She mows her yard, we mow our yard. We don't let our grass get wild and out of control; she doesn't let her's get out of control. Yeah, from the road, we look really similar.

But a close up look tells a different story. In reality, a whole bunch of what we mow is weeds. Our "grass" actually is green, but a close inspection shows that the impression of lush, soft, and healthy grass is just that---an impression. We're about equal parts weeds and grass--we just mow the weeds and grass down equally, and behead the dandelions as they come.

Our neighbor can't handle that. She wants her lawn to actually be beautiful green grass. So she works on it almost religiously. Certainly faithfully. She even pays a team to come in and spray and make sure that her yard is the real deal. It costs her in time and money. Karen's reward? Her yard not only looks good from a distance, but it's delightful up close, too. It can even stand up under the evaluation of bare feet! Yeah, no disappointment there---what it looks like from a distance is what it actually is up close.

I've been thinking--it's fairly easy to look good in most of life with a quick mow and a little distance. You know, don't deal with the dandelions--just whack their heads off for the day. But can my "impressions" stand up to close ups? Or, is a closer inspection of my life usually disappointing? Real success in lawns and life is when the closer you get, the better it looks. John Maxwell says, "True success is when the people who know you the best respect and believe in you the most."

Hmmmmmmmm.