God Gave Me a Lawn

            I never thought I would actually find meaning in mowing the lawn. I don’t like mowing the lawn, but I don’t actually mind doing it. We’ve had kind of a roller coaster summer even mowing our lawn at all. We got a lawn mower for free, which was super awesome amazing. It’s a small ranch king rider. I’ve used a push mower a few times, but the rider was a new experience. I mowed the lawn for the first time when my husband was at work and I felt like a BOSS as I surveyed my accomplishment. I took a picture and immediately put it on Facebook because I didn’t even have to use YouTube to turn the mower on. I even learned how to put gas in the lawn mower by myself! (Come on, celebrate the small victories with me!)
            Then my husband went to mow the lawn. And the mower didn’t turn on. Which seemed an awful lot like the universe was saying he didn’t have to mow the lawn.
            It took us…way too long to actually call in the calvary. I came home from a conference to find my father-in-law and husband in the garage taking the lawn mower apart and when that didn’t actually fix the problem, I found a local company who would pick the lawn mower up, fix it at their shop, and return the lawn mower. The actual repair was $8.75. The total bill was $110. But I mowed the lawn again, so it was worth it. I sat back and surveyed my accomplishment and grinned to myself.
            A week went by and I decided to mow the lawn again. This time I miscalculated how low a branch was and got stabbed in the neck. I did a not-so-swell job mowing the rest of the lawn because I was bleeding, but I WAS GOING TO FINISH MOWING THE LAWN DANG IT!
            And then another week went by and I decided it was my husband’s turn to mow the lawn. And apparently, our garage door decided this was a terrible idea. It took us about a week to figure out how to even get the electricity back on in our garage (tripped GFI outlet). But today? No more excuses! Today the sun was out, the ground was considerably dry, and the garage door opened.
            THE LAWN WILL BE MOWED!
            I filled her up with gas and took to the grass. While I was mowing, I felt the sun on my face and immediately was filled with a sense of…something. I was trying to name it. Joy? Perhaps. It’s the kind of tingle you feel when you get into a Go-Kart for the first time and race around the track, going faster and faster because you slowly feel braver and braver. I had the lawn mower up to speed 4 out of 6 and realized…fun? Was this fun? Fun seems like the wrong word. But it did afford me a space for reflection. I never thought the lawn mower could be a place for meditation, but it totally happened. The thing about meditation is that thoughts come. Sometimes, the thoughts are random. And sometimes, there is deeper meaning there. Here’s a sample of some of the reflections I had while mowing the lawn:

            I bet this thing can go faster.
            I’m probably going to fall off this on the slope. What would happen if the lawn mower tipped over on me?
            I really shouldn’t mow in flip flops.
            I’m glad I put on sneakers. Good thing I keep a pair in the car!
            My hands totally smell like gasoline.
            Aw, a frog!
            I wonder how low I should have the blades.
            CRAP I mowed the frog.
            That branch is awful low. OW. Annnnnd I'm bleeding.
            Remember when I was little and I compared mowing the lawn to giving the grass a haircut? It’s like when you’re little and call the moon God’s thumbnail. I wonder if God cares if we cut the grass.
            I am earning the best cold shower EVER.
            OW, what’s that? Oh I ran into a tree root. There are hidden obstacles in my lawn!
            Do my neighbors ever look at me mowing the lawn and think, “Wow, that chick is BOSS!”
            I’m totally boss.
            Okay, seriously, is there a lot of lawn left? Is my lawn somehow getting bigger?
            If we had two lawn mowers, my husband I could race. Think how fast the lawn would get mowed.
            You know…this isn’t so bad. It takes about an hour, and I can think about stuff. I feel like I’ve accomplished something. And the lawn looks pretty decent. 
           
            Are you ever surprised to find yourself in a reflective state in a place you least expected to find yourself in a reflective state? I think those are little gifts from God, experienced when we actually opened our eyes to experience them. One of my favorite authors, Barbara Brown Taylor, calls it “practicing her domestic arts” while she’s looking for altars in the world. We can experience God in so many different ways. Mowing the lawn reminds me to appreciate the gift of a lawn. It’s my lawn. By virtue of a few dozen signatures, the lawn is my (and David’s) responsibility. And there’s a kind of spiritual blessing in that gratitude.

            Still. I think next week it will be my husband’s turn to experience the spiritual blessing of mowing the lawn…

                                                     God bless the color green :)

                               The branch that tried to kill me. I chopped it down with a pair of gardening sheers.                              That taught the brach a lesson!

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