The Grass Isn’t Greener

My daughter Julia and I will be one of the billions who will be awakening at 4:00 a.m. to watch the royal wedding on Friday.

I did the same thing thirty years ago when Lady Diana Spencer wed Prince Charles.

I was sixteen years old and I took in every single second, totally captivated by the beautiful princess who was only three years older than I was.

I remember trudging off to my part time job at Meisner’s Pharmacy later that day, lamenting my boring, middle class life compared to Diana’s exciting, glittering existence.

Little did I know what later years would reveal: that Diana was married to a man who was in love with another woman. Despite her beauty, wealth, and glamour, her life was one of sadness, despair, and emptiness.

The grass is never greener, no matter what we think.

This is what I plan to discuss with Julia as we watch:

*Don’t waste your life wishing you had someone else’s.

*Ask God to open your eyes to see all the beauty in your own life.  You are a unique, one-of-a-kind person, the likes of which the world has never before seen…and will never see again. (Ps. 139:1-6)

*Earthly royal blood may not run through your veins…but you are cherished, loved, and adored by the King of Kings (Jeremiah 31:3; Romans 8:38-39).

*The world may not breathlessly watch your every move…but your God sees you and is constantly thinking of you (Genesis 15:13 ; Ps. 139:17-18).

*He celebrates you every single day (Zephaniah 3:17).

*And what is coming one heavenly day for the Christ follower will make all the pageantry of the royal wedding look like an impromptu party in a church basement with paper plates and plastic cups (I Corinthians 2:9).

That being said, we will enjoy the pomp, the glamour, the beauty, the dazzling jewels, the clothes, the tradition. Julia is looking forward to being able to tell her kids that she saw the wedding live, just as I got to see Diana’s.

Here is hoping that William and Kate will have a much happier marriage than Charles and Diana did.

I think they will.