If your neighbor’s grass is greener than yours, then you probably need to spend more time working in your yard. The late Mai Angelou put it another way, she said, “If your neighbor’s grass is greener than yours, then you can bet their water bill is higher.”
How to Have Green Grass
We have a neighbor in our community whose yard looks extraordinary; his grass not only looks greener than ours, but his grass is literally greener than ours.
His yard is something to behold, a proper work of fine art.
So….am I jealous…
Well, I’ll talk about that in a moment, for now I want to focus more on the metaphorical grasses of life, and I want to show you how you can have the greenest grass on the block in any area of your life, but I’m going to show you this, via an illustration on “marriage,” so bear with me.
The Greenest Marriage in the World, an Illustration
Mignon McLaughlin said, “A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.”
If I had to reword her quote in my own romantic words, I would say that, “A successful marriage requires a lot of work.”
As it takes a significant amount of work to become a person, who someone else would repeatedly fall in love with.
Are you listening to me?
You see, you can work hard at your marriage, or you can have a marriage that’s hard.
If you are married, and if you want to stay that way, your goal should always be to continually evolve into a person that your spouse would choose to marry again, and again, and again. If your spouse, unbeknownst to you, would opt-out of your marriage today given the choice, then I’m very sorry to be the bearer of bad news, it is with great sadness and a heavy heart that I must inform you that you might be satisfied in blissful ignorance, BUT your marriage does not have very green grass.
One of my favorite words in the English language is the word “but,” …as the word “but,” disqualifies the previous statement, and places the emphasis on the upcoming statement.
In other words, your marriage may be struggling today, BUT, you can turn it around. One of my favorite quotes is from the movie “Vanilla Sky,” by Penelope Cruz’s character, she says, “Every passing moment is an opportunity to turn it all around.” …I believe that.
(Don’t fret, be of good cheer, I’m getting to your green grass in just a moment, hang out with me for a little while longer, we are taking the scenic route today.)
You see, you can turn your marriage around, if need be, you can have a marriage with green grass, and since we’re already on the subject, and since I have already digressed, I might as well tell you how you can have a very green marriage, in two easy steps, AND one very hard step.
The 3 Steps to a Very Green Marriage:
Step #1: Find out what your spouse wants from you, in other words, find out what your spouse needs in order to feel loved.
Step #2: Let your spouse know what you want from them, in other words, let your spouse know what you need in order to feel loved.
Step #3: Each of you work at becoming what the other person desires, in this way you will have your most basic human and Maslovian need to be loved uniquely satisfied.
This will undeniably and unequivocally take hard work; this will take being inconvenienced. BUT, that’s what love is all about; love says that I am willing to be inconvenienced, so that you can be satisfied. Love says that I am willing to go without, so that you might have. Love says that I’m willing to challenge myself, so that you might be appeased.
Incorporating this in reality will not be easy, but you can’t have green grass without hard work. Mike Murdock says, “Never complain about what you permit, if you’re going to put up with it, shut up about it!” If you want green grass, don’t complain, do something about it.
A Green Life
So how do you have the greenest grass on the block, you spend more time working in your yard, than anyone else. You earn it through the sweat of your brow, and through tears.
This entire site could be summed up by saying, “Anything worth doing is going to be extremely hard, BUT you can do it!” I only have one message; I just have a thousand different ways to say it.
In Closing
You must continue to evolve if you desire greatness and “greenness.” Whether we’re talking about raising amazing kids, having an awesome career, or having a marriage that others want to emulate, it’s going to take work. It’s going to take doing work that others won’t do, to get results that others haven’t earned.
The key to having the greenest grass, is to work the hardest and smartest at having the greenest grass.
So…am I jealous of my neighbor’s green grass, how could I be….he put’s in the work!