Skip to main content

Life Lessons from a Lawn Mower

Yesterday, as I sat quietly inside working away at the daily business of Downing Ministries, I heard the buzz of lawn mowers off in the distance, a typical sound for Wednesday, and continued on with the task at hand.  Suddenly, I was jolted from concentration by a very hard something that bounced off some part of the house; thankfully, not a window!  The mowing never stopped, and I'm still not 100% sure what got flung or where or what it hit.  I only know that it most definitely did!

As I gathered myself and determined that there was no way to know if the flying object hit my house, the neighbors house, or if it even hit a house at all, the thought occurred to me that life is a lot like the act of mowing.  The person doing the mowing pushes or rides the machine all over the place basically oblivious to the consequences of their actions, except for the shorter grass which is their intended goal.  In this example, think of mowing as decision making.  We all know individuals who make choices and decisions based on what they feel at the moment with only their agenda and their wants in mind.  They run over, chop down, sling, fling, break, crack, chip or otherwise mar relationships, other people's confidence, careers, dreams, and in some cases physical bodies, with no regard for the affect their behaviors and choices have on those closest to them.  Just like the lawn mower throwing rocks or debris, there are consequences to poor choices and bad decisions.  Unfortunately, those often reach far beyond the decision maker him or herself.

Proverbs 17:6 says, "Children's children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers."  Insert whatever is appropriate for in your case... "The glory of the employees is their boss."  "The glory of the wife is her husband."  "The glory of church parishioners is their pastor." "The glory of the students is their teacher."  The list of associations is endless, but one truth runs parallel through them all; if we're walking through life oblivious to how our decisions affect everyone else, we're not going to be anybody's glory and will surely fall well short of Luke 6:31.  "Do to others what you would have them do to you."

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

God The Modern Father

   These are hard days.  It's tough for ministries.  It's tough for churches.  It's tough for parents.  It's tough for men, and it's tough for women.  It's tough to know who you can trust and who you can't.  It's tough to weed out fact from a preponderance of fiction.  In general, life is hard.    Did you know the Bible promises that life will be hard?  In a recent conversation with Ann about the overall decline of the church... why congregations take off and then systematically shrink and ultimately dissolve... I believe the Lord dropped a relevant truth into my heart.  It's not anything I haven't said before, but it is in a different context.    I'm seeing a trend in making converts without discipleship.  And, in the cases where discipling does take place, I fear there is some error in the teaching which could, in very large part, be responsible for the decline of the American church. ...

Courteous Listening

The act of being courteous takes very little effort. I’m one of the worst to get involved in what is going on at that moment in my life, probably trying to figure it out, fix it, find a solution….you know, MOVE ON WITH IT.  All the while, I frequently miss what’s happening right in front of my face. When we stop and think about it, a lot of us probably come across as disinterested, impatient with, and/or bored by what others are saying.  In politeness we nod, maybe touch an arm as if to say, “I hear you.”  I know a lot of the time we’re sincere, but more often than not, we’re probably thinking about the next thing on our own agenda forgetting what we’ve heard only five minutes later. If I’m thinking about this, the light bulb may be going off in your head, too.  Maybe all of us can put forth a more concerted effort to be effective listeners and be as truly attentive as we try to make people believe we are.

No Matter What

Several years ago a friend shared with me that his route to work every day took him through a toll booth....and he tried to always choose a certain booth. This is because the gentleman manning that booth was an elderly man who always had something "bright and sunny" to say to him. Every morning my friend would hear "Have a good day, no matter what!" Now, there were days my friend drove up to that toll booth with zillions of questions in his head of how he was gonna make it through a challenging day that was always before him when he arrived at his workplace. But he just kept those words in his head...and heart..."Have a good day, no matter what". Now, that's a choice, isn't it? "No matter what"???? I don't know about you, but I honestly don't find that coming naturally to me...it's a struggle to find sunshine on those cloudy, dreary mornings...'cause it just doesn't show up in my eyesight. But, that's w...