Don't be the cow....

I saw a cow in a beautiful pasture this weekend....

This pasture hadn't been eaten up by the ravages of a Texas summer yet, still had plenty of green grass around.  Looked pretty much like a cow's paradise, as far as I could tell.  Yet the cow was all the way up to the fence line, trying to pry it's head between the wires of the fence in order to grab some of the grass just on the other side.  Stupid cow...

Then I thought a bit more and realized how often I'm a stupid cow.  Have been blessed beyond measure yet not satisfied.  Wanting what's on the other side of the "fence".  Here's what I've found about fences though.  There is a crap load of them.  As soon as you get over one, there's another waiting for you.  Our society has become quite the fence makers, it would seem. 

Hey, here's the Iphone 4...this phone will make you waffles for breakfast.  FENCE....Here's the Iphone 4"S".  This phone is ten times better because it will tell you a story while it makes you waffles.

Here's a perfectly good pair of shoes that will do everything a pair of shoes should do.  FENCE...Here's a shoe that will magically take inches off of your butt while you do nothing more than wear them.

But it's not just corporate America that are fence makers.  We are quite adept at making fences ourselves.  I have a beautiful house.  The nicest house I've ever lived in.  More room than we use or need.  Yet I suddenly have a FENCE because they are building new homes right across the way and man those houses look really nice.  Bigger patio, more square footage...one of those would be a better house, I know it.

You just recently started working out and you are feeling great about it.  Feel better, have more energy, more confidence, taking steps in the right direction.  FENCE...hey you're old friend that you haven't seen in 15 years just posted on Facebook that they started working out recently and have already lost 12 lbs.  Suddenly, you are not happy with what you were completely content with before....you want what's on the other side of the fence.

You get the point.  It's everything you want, until you have it, then it's not quite enough.  Now I'm all for bettering yourself and striving to become a better you.  But I have a sneakin' suspicion that most of us are spending so much time trying to get through the fence that we forget all that is already in our proverbial "pasture". 

If you would have told the 14 year old me that I would have the family that I have, the job that I love, and all the "stuff" that I've acquired, that 14 year old kid would be stoked.  That's more than he thought was possible.  Yet here I am, blessed beyond measure, and still find myself scraping up my neck trying to get on the other side of the damn fence.  Stupid cow.

Do you think about your pasture?  How blessed you are with the people, opportunities and life that you've been given?  Do you lose sight of how good your life is, looking over the fence?  Don't be the cow.