I've learned a great deal about God from the Bible and many sermons and teachings since I gave my life to Jesus about 13 years ago. I learned even more about the Lord when I became a father.
I have, however, learned a great deal about how to live for the Lord through the very spiritual and profound act of.... mowing the lawn.
Okay. Maybe it's not that profound nor that spiritual, but I've learned a lot nonetheless.
This first articulation of my musings about God and lawn care begins with the simple act of mowing. There is nothing spiritual about it. You pull a cord and if you are fortunate enough, you pull a lever that makes the front wheels turn. Ahh, the joys of self-propulsion.
I learned my first lesson about living a life of obedience to God during a period of time that I had actually walked away from the Lord.
During those few years (years recently passed if you need to know), I particularly developed a deep set aversion to mowing my lawn. I was already putting in 45 - 60 hours a week at work and I sure wasn't all that excited about coming home and mowing the lawn.
Now, it shouldn't have been all that bad. I mean, even though I have a good size yard, I still only needed to mow it about once a week. Simple enough right?
Not really.
I have this notion that God, in all His wisdom and powers as a grower of grass, gave my lawn the ability to grow quite quickly. I mean, sometimes I would have to mow twice a week! How awful!
Okay, I exaggerate. But that's how it felt. The gravity of this dilemma will become clear to you in a moment.
See, God speaks to us often through His work. "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse..." Romans 1:20
And He spoke very clearly to me through the condition of my grass. Oh, yes, the grass. It grew long and thick in some places, thin in others. It had some dry spots and a generous helping of weeds (more on those pesky things in future posts). The thing that really irked me was that when I actually had the time to mow (or rather, made the time to mow) it was always long and wet.
See, I would get home and think, "I need to mow the lawn. But I'm tired. Well, its my day off tomorrow, I'll mow it then." Good enough plan, right?
It would rain the next day.
Maybe not all the time, but frequently. I would look at all my neighbor's lawns and sigh. They were so green and always trimmed. It was crazy because I never seemed to see them mow their lawn. They must have special grass that maintains itself. If you know where to get some, please let me know.
I would finally get down to mowing the lawn and have a time of it. Let me tell you, it is no fun mowing through long wet grass even with a self-propelled lawn mower. The grass gets clumped up and slows down the blades causing the engine to quit. The bag quickly gets heavy and has to be emptied at least twice as much. For some strange reason, emptying the clippings into the garbage or a garbage bag is the most hated part of mowing my lawn. Don't ask. I don't know why.
My yard, during a time when I'm keeping up with it, takes about an hour and a half to mow. During those times of neglect, it would take 2 or more hours. I would get frustrated and berate myself.
"If you would have just mowed it last week, it wouldn't be so bad."
You're right. If you kept up with the lawn, you wouldn't have such a hard time with it. The more you let it grow, the harder it is to cut.
I call this a Samuel moment. A time in your life when you hear the voice of God, but you are unsure if it is someone speaking to you or if you are merely imagining it. Well, I knew in my heart that I wasn't imagining it. God was trying to make a point.
I got the point. And very quickly I might add. See, I wasn't living the life I should. I was letting things in my life grow to a point that it became obvious that I wasn't taking care of myself spiritually. Kinda like the grass growing too long. Are you getting the picture?
Week after week, month after month, year after year, the Lord kept telling me that I needed to let Him take care of some things in my life. Most especially, He was telling me that if I kept letting these things grow and didn't keep them trimmed down or pulled out, I was going to have a rough time when it finally came to a point of reckoning.
It was a loving warning from a loving father. "For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives." Hebrews 12:6
Most people think that God takes some kind of pleasure through disciplining us. They picture Him reigning down fire from heaven or sending a plague. Though He can and has done these things, I believe it is not before He lovingly warns us that destruction is coming.
"The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." 2 Peter 3:9
God is patient. He calls out to us to change, to let Him change us. Yet we neglect to come to Him. We neglect our spiritual lives and let the grass and the weeds grow. After my experience with letting things get out of hand, I urge you. Take care of it now. Let God trim your lawn and most importantly, take care of your spiritual life.
It is not pleasant when you have to mow down overgrown grass. It takes much more effort and much more time than simply keeping up with the yard work.
