HAVE YOU ever given something away and later felt regret settle in? Last summer, I was push-mowing our grass. I thoroughly enjoy breaking a sweat and getting a little exercise while doing yard work. However, I have to admit our lawn was toeing the line of size appropriateness for push-mowing. It was a bit of a task. Plus, it was in the blistering heat of the summer, and I had a refreshing drink waiting by the poolside with my name on it.
I had already finished cutting our backyard and was working in the front yard, moving left to right. There is a row of trees and an oddly placed bush between mine and my neighbor’s lawn. When we purchased our home, the land survey showed these trees fell on our side of the property line. However, over the summer, any time I mowed the grass, I had slowly begun scooting our lines over and ending a few inches short. Besides, the neighbor was new to the subdivision and he had a riding lawn mower. Plus, it’s not like he really knew the exact property lines either.
On this particular day, I was just about ready to release the blade control handle and call it a day. I
was covered in sweat. My shoes were green and caked with clumps of grass, and mentally I was more than over it. However, the Holy Spirit spoke to me, “Is that all it takes for you to give up ground? Because you are tired? Because it is a little bit more work? Nobody even has to take it from you. You are just giving it away.”
I was the owner of this land, and I was essentially willing to give it up because of my laziness. Inch by inch. And while that might seem insignificant to some, if you add an inch here or there over a trajectory of time, that is a lot of territory being forfeited! The Lord used a physical analogy to convey a message regarding my spiritual life.
The Bible says in John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy,” but I had become so passive and inattentive that the thief did not even have to come steal from me! I was freely giving up ground on my own! After wrestling
in my head for a few moments, I leaned down, yanked at the lawnmower cord, and mowed my lawn to the fullest measure. This was not my neighbor’s grass to cut. It was mine, and I was no longer going to let laziness win. -GN
