The Grass Ain't Always Greener

"I Don't Want to Live on the Moon"
(courtesy Sesame Street)

I'd like to visit the moon
On a rocketship high in the air.
Yes, I'd like to visit the moon,
But I don't think I'd like to live there.
Though I'd like to look down at the earth From above,
I'd miss all the places and people I love,
So although I might like it for one afternoon,
I don't want to live on the moon.

I'd like to travel under the sea.
I could meet all the fish everywhere.
Yes, I'd travel under the sea,
But I don't think I'd like to live there.
I might stay for a day there If i had my wish,
But there's not much to do
When your friends are all fish,
And an oyster and clam aren't real family,
So I don't want to live under the sea.

I'd like to visit the jungle,
Hear the lion's roar;
Go back and meet a dinosaur.
There's so many strange places I'd like to be
But none of them permanently.

So if I should visit the moon,
Well, I'll dance on a moonbeam, and then
I will make a wish on a star,
And I'll wish I was home once again.
Though I'd like to look down at the earth from above,
I would miss all the places And people I love
So although I may go, I'll be coming home soon,
'Cause I don't want to live on the moon.
No, I don't want to live on the moon.

Please forgive me for being a bit sappy, but I this is one of my favorite songs from childhood. I remember Ernie singing this song on Sesame Street and I can vividly recall the brightly colored moonbeams and muppet fish. Songs and poems we learn in childhood fuse into our adult psyche. Tonight, I find this song increasingly poingnant.

I wrestle often with various degrees of homesickness and general feelings of self-doubt, especially concerning academic and ecclesiastical affairs. Like Ernie, I sometimes dream of abandoning my life in Austin and embark on a mad-cap odyssey to exotic locations. Nothing is inherently wrong with a desire, as they say in Star Trek, "to seek out new life and new civilizations," but we must never forget the beauty of home, the beauty of the faces and places we love.

As I sometimes become impatient with my life and jealous of others' perceived good fortune, I must remind myself that the "grass isn't greener on the other side of the fence." It's just grass, same as my grass, same as anybody's grass. And though it might be tempting to live on the moon, I would miss my family and friends that continue to humble and inspire me. So glory be to God for all that is seen and unseen which blesses my life! I pray that I, too, will never take my blessings for granted and that I may be a blessing to others.