Philosophy behind Mowing the Yard
I just got done talking with our lead pastor, Dave, about mowing yards. He was on his way out and mentioned he was going to go home and finish cutting the grass. I replied with my longing to have a yard of my own to mow (we live in a maintenance provided area, so they cut the grass, shovel snow, the whole bit) to which he said if I wanted to, I could always go and mow his yard.
I told him about how when I was in middle school, we had a huge front yard. It would take me 3, maybe 4 hours to mow it. I’d grab my kool-aid and put on my red sony walkman and mow away. I daydreamed about riding horses, going on drug busts, or my current crush.
Thoughtfully, he came and sat down on my filing cabinet retracted his offer. “Actually, forget about it. I could have any one of the boys do it, but I don’t.”
“Because they won’t, or because you don’t want them to?”
“Oh, I could make them mow it. Especially if I paid them to. But there’s just something theraputic to it. I get such a feeling of accomplishment from seeing it get done.”
We began to discuss about how so many things we do in our lives aren’t tangible. It seems like we serve and teach and relate time and time again. Sometimes you see a payoff in that, but many times you don’t.
Not that being in ministry promises a payoff – at least in this life – nor do we expect one. We know the things we do are for the Glory of Him – not us – but in our humanness we long to feel that sense of accomplishment. That feeling of completeness.
Mowing a yard, you can go strip by strip, line by line and see the progress you are making. You know there is a bag that is collecting all of the grass you are cutting off. It is easy to see how your hard work is paying off.
Imagine that feeling you get when you mow the yard. When you finish that paper. You complete that final. When you walk across the stage and get your diploma….
God has given us the pleasure in feeling that sense of accomplishment. On the eternal spectrum of things, imagine how amazing it will be once this life is over and all of the things we have accomplished for Him will be put through the fire and revealed. For His glory. Imagine how much praise we can give, and how we will feel when we see it all come around.