Greener Grass

Every time I return from a trip, whether that be overseas or over state lines, I hit a bit of a slump. I find myself discontent, bored and tired, making me the most dull person to be around. I am sure it has something to do with the return to normalcy and the coming off of some sort of travel high.

Currently, that is my state of being. It does not make for good blog material. No one wants to read about my overwhelming pile of laundry or how I feel like I need to change everything in my life that I have the power to change: where I live, what I wear, my hobbies and my hairstyle. Apparently, I am caught between wanting to do nothing at all and doing everything I possibly can. And that just makes me tired.

My trip to Philadelphia was insanely busy and full of many wonderful new things, like the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall and The Famous 4th Street Cookie Company which has the best cookies ever created in the history of baking. That, my friends, was a gem of a find. I was also on an extrovert's joy ride, talking and meeting with tons of people every day, discussing things that are dear to my heart and crucial to my work. And I lived for five days in a fabulous hotel with a Starbucks downstairs and the aforementioned cookies right out the front door. Obviously, I was slightly out of touch with reality and even considered taking the housekeeper home with me.

On the flip side, Philadelphia was cold and windy, I ate only carbohydrates for five days straight and I hated paying $13 everyday just to have internet. Part of me was craving home and everything familiar.

I realize I am a very fickle human being. I want what I do not have or cannot attain, yet I long for everything familiar when I no longer have it in front of me. I want both the exciting and the mundane, the thrill and the calm, the adventure and the routine. And at the end of the day, I just want to lie down on the couch and watch Netflix.

What the heck?!

On Saturday, while Vicki and I were busy talking to people about IDEAS and our work in social justice, a couple of girls came up to talk to us. I asked one of them what she was enjoying about the conference and she said this:

"I learned that if I am always thinking that the grass is greener somewhere else, perhaps I need to ask the Holy Spirit to water the grass I am standing on."

*blink, blink.*

Well, isn't that just brilliant.

Perhaps there is beauty embedded in my pile of laundry. Perhaps I can make my own unbelieavably delicious cookies. Perhaps I do not need to get on an airplane just to find adventure.

Perhaps I need some help with watering.