Another Lesson from my Lawn Mower

You wouldn’t think that one afternoon cutting the grass would bring forth such theological reflections! Yet, as I mentioned in my last blog, I recently found myself cutting our yard. This particular afternoon was a chaotic one. My husband was out of town, I had 15 leaders coming to my house that evening for dinner, a repairman was on his way to our home, and school pick-up time was perilously close.All of this to say, when I realized we were out of lawn bags, I also realized there was no time to run and buy some. So, I went in the house and grabbed a handful of kitchen garbage bags. These were not just any kitchen garbage bags. These were special. A few months ago, my mom dropped a box of garbage bags in my garage. She had been to Sam’s Club and picked up an extra box. Little did she know that I had never purchased Febreze-scented garbage bags before. As long as you’re not paying for them, they are amazing. Garbage is almost fun when you have good smelling bags!So, there I was, outside with my good smelling trash bags. I unhooked the grass catcher and began to position the bag to dump the clippings. Only then did I discover the problem that I had created. The bag simply wasn’t big enough. I tried every which way, but to no avail. I finally resided myself to scooping the grass out of the lawn mower bag and putting it by hand in my trash bag. Three different times I had to go through this painfully slow, embarrassing, and allergy-irritating process.One moral of the story is to remember the value of lawn bags and always keep them on hand! But I would like to propose another application. Remember how I encouraged you in my last blog to deal with small issues in your life now, rather than waiting till they are so big they cause your “mower” to choke and sputter? Well, it’s also critical that you deal with your “clippings” wisely.Most of us have a yard that, when cut, produces clippings that need to be thrown away. Likewise, we all have things that we need to process and let go of in our lives. Whether it’s a healthy and smooth process or much more of a messy one may be determined by how intentional you decide to be. You must have the right equipment to deal with grass clippings. It didn’t matter how good my bags smelled – they were not the right piece of equipment for the job!So, what is the right equipment for the job when it comes to keeping ourselves relationally, emotionally, and spiritually healthy? I would propose that by dealing with issues quickly as they arise, many of our frustrations can simply be sorted out between us and the Lord. For those that are a little more difficult, adding a solid Christian friend in addition to your prayers is often what you need. When it comes to situations that are rooted in emotion and have lasting implications, seek out objective godly counsel. A friend is great, but there are some occasions where her loyalty or similar stage of life may keep her from being objective or having the perspective of wisdom. Febreze might be nice in the moment, but consider finding some godly counsel to avoid a mishap with your clippings. twitter | facebook