Stripes
Stripes, in this case, does not refer to the 1981 movie starring Bill Murray. It refers to the lines my mower makes in the yard when I mow.
For some perspective, our place has about three acres, and with my riding mower (top speed of 12mph and a 60” deck), it takes about 2 ½ hours to mow. I usually enjoy mowing because I can listen to my Christian radio station and let my mind wander.
Our son came to visit us earlier in the month and he wanted to mow our grass. Partially because he wanted to help us, but partially because his yard (4’ x 30’ patch) doesn’t take him very long to mow. He lives in a mountain desert, so a grass yard of any size is uncommon.
Before he went out to mow, he said he didn’t know how to make the pretty cross-hatch pattern in the yard that was left from the last time I mowed. He thought I mowed it in one direction, then re-mowed it from another. I laughed.
About 10 years ago, when I bought my mower, I read that it is better for grass if you do not mow it from the same direction every time. So, I thought if I mowed perpendicular to the street, alternating with a diagonal path pattern, my grass would be healthier and my yard would look better. What I didn’t know was that my mower made a mark on the left side of the mow path and my pattern highlighted those stripes.
If you’re thinking whoop tee doo, you’d be right! Except I did learn two lessons from my son’s question. The first was his desire to do a good job. I’ve mentioned before that when he was a boy and negotiated extra work for a desired reward, we always asked him when he was done if he had put in his best effort. That lesson carried him through to being a successful adult, husband and father with a good job.
“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” - Proverbs 22:6 ESV
Second, I mentioned my mowing pattern started not for aesthetic purposes so much as to have a healthy yard. At our previous house (0.75 acres), I bagged grass clippings and trimmed and edged. I do not do that now with our much larger yard. Our son, noticing the pattern in the yard, had seen something I admired for myself but didn’t intend for others to notice.
“What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.” - 1 Corinthians 3:5-9
Patrick currently is preaching on evangelism, and this is a good lesson for me on planting seeds. Just by mowing my grass in a pattern to improve its health, I was planting a seed in someone’s mind that made them wonder how I created a pretty pattern in my yard. I suspect I do the same thing when I’m nice to others or am calm in unfortunate situations. In other words, how many times do I emulate the peace and joy I have in Christ to others that make them wonder what I’ve found?
This morning, the neighbor came over to chat. Our dogs got out a couple of nights ago and I happened to get home when our neighbor saw them with a different neighbor's dog barking at each other and yelled over at me. Our dogs quickly came when called and went into our fenced backyard. Our neighbor came over to tell me how glad she was that I came home when I did to separate our dogs from the other neighbor’s dog (she was worried they’d start fighting). After our brief conversation, I questioned whether I should have invited them to our church or at least told them how they could watch the livestream of the service.
Steps, baby steps.
