It doesn’t take much to make something look a whole lot better. In fact, just a little is all you need to make a big difference.

We came home from vacation and our back lawn was incredibly long – so long that the grass couldn’t hold itself up; it was laying down … that’s how long it was. 

It looked atrocious … kind of like the way most of us looked in the early seventies to our parents. We thought we looked great, but our parents hated our long hair. It was wild and unruly – at least mine was. 

Over the last five months many of us experienced that wild and unruly look again, while others experienced it for the first time. With hair salons closed because of COVID, we all went a long time without getting trimmed.

I, for one, was coming up with a new way to comb my hair every day. When my hair got too long for one look, I started experimenting where I would part it. I went from sort of a side part to gradually moving my part farther up my scalp until it got to the middle. Sometimes I whisked my bangs to the side, sometimes they just flopped down my forehead.

The one consistent thing about my hair was it looked bad. It always looked like I needed a haircut three weeks ago. 

Well, our lawn looked like that after our vacation. 

I really didn’t want to cut it because I knew that my lawnmower would be chugging the whole way and I would be stopping and starting, having to keep clearing the clumps of grass out from under the machine deck.

When I thought about it, I remembered when I was growing up and had to cut my back yard. It was big and would take over an hour and a half. We would always leave it too long so it was even more painful to cut. We would have to take two steps forward and then back up, step forward and then back up again. 

Looking at our lawn the other day, I had that painful memory that made me wish we had paved the whole yard.

When I got out there, I decided that I would have to cut the lawn two or three times over the next several days to get it as short as the front yard. 

I started on the highest setting on the lawnmower. To my surprise it didn’t clog up and I was able to cut the grass in a reasonable time with ease.

I was just trimming the tops though. I figured I had a few more passes to go. 

… Maybe not. When I stepped back and looked at it, even though it was a couple of inches longer than the front yard, the back yard looked great – nice and trimmed. 

It looks so good I’m going to leave it for a few days before I do any more trimming. 

… Maybe long can look good.

Here’s the thing:  Salvation is a little like that. When you give your life to Christ and have your sins forgiven, there is still much that needs to be changed. But that initial faith that you place in Jesus Christ makes a big difference in you. The transformation is huge and noticeable. Sure, there’s lots more to work on; that can come later. Just be sure to take that initial step, to give Jesus control. It makes a big difference.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What little thing do you need to do that will make a big difference? Leave your comments and questions below.

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