grass cutting

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Out-Of-Hand – Don’t Let That Happen To You

There are some things you need to stay on top of or they get out-of-hand. … I know this from experience.

out-of-hand - don't let that happen to you

There are so many things that can get away on us and lawn care is one of them.

When I was young and living at home, my brother and I had to share the lawn cutting duties. One time I would cut the lawn and the next time John would cut it.

Cutting the front lawn was a piece of cake. It maybe took ten minutes to give the grass a haircut. 

But the back lawn, that was a different story. It would take an hour to an hour and a half to get through cutting it all. Both John and I would avoid getting to it as long as we could. 

The only problem was that the longer we left it the more out-of-hand it got. The grass would get so long that we would have to go back and forth with the mower, otherwise it would get all clogged up inside with grass. 

This was back in the 60’s and 70’s. We cut the grass with an electric push mower, not one with a battery. We had at least two one-hundred foot extension chords to make it to the far reaches of the lawn. 

It was a bit of a nightmare. 

Recently I’ve been looking out our patio window at the house across the way from us. A new family moved in there in the last three months. 

All I can say is the guy’s definitely let his lawn get out-of-hand. 

The previous owner meticulously kept her lawn. The lawn was fertilized, over-seeded, weed free, always neatly trimmed. 

Not the new guy. The people on either side of him have cut their grass three times since he last cut his. His lawn is long, lush and thick … you could hide a baby deer in that lawn, it’s so long!

What amazes me is that he has a lawn tractor to cut the grass – that’s not even a hardship! It’s like riding around your yard on a slow moving go cart. He has no reason not to stay on top of it. 

Well, the other day he finally got to it … and I was able to solve a huge mystery. 

… You know those huge, circular rings that have appeared in farmers’ fields? Some think they are from UFOs. Well, they’re not. My neighbour has those circular rings and they are made with a John Deer 20756 lawn tractor. 

He even left the evidence, just in case someone might call NASA to investigate. 

His John Deer is still on the lawn. It’s been there for two days now, through at least a couple of rain storms.

I figure he either ran out of gas or clogged the cutter up and doesn’t know how to add fuel or extract the grass. 

I hope he’s learned that you can’t let your lawn go or it will get out-of-hand. I’m a little doubtful though.

Here’s the thing: Sin has a way of creeping into your life and settling in. When that happens, sin can get out-of-hand if you don’t address it. Don’t let sin take over. Regularly repent and confess your sins to the Lord. It will keep your life in check. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What has gotten out-of-hand for you lately? Leave your comments and questions below.

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Anyone Need Their Grass Cut?

Sometimes you start a simple task or job and it grows into something bigger. I have certainly experienced this at times in my life.

One time we had a water leak in our vacation trailer.  I decided to see if I could fix it myself.  I checked and found the problem needed to be fixed from the outside, which meant peeling off the metal shell at the front of the trailer.  I started at the bottom and noticed the problem extended a little higher so I took off the next strip, then the next, and the next.  When I had the whole front of the trailer removed, with just the wood frame left in place, I stepped back and thought, “What have I done?!”  It was way more work than I had thought.

Another time we had a leak in our basement.  I thought I would dig a hole outside and patch the foundation where the leak was.  In the end, the hole I dug was over 5 feet deep and about 12 feet long.  Again, that job got way bigger than I had first thought!

Reading about those two experiences, you might think they weren’t that bad, and that I must be a handy guy.  That’s where you would be VERY wrong!  I’m not that handy, and for all the handy work I have done, I don’t really like it.  It takes me too long; I don’t have the right tools; I make mistakes; I get frustrated; I get discouraged; I cut myself (another story).

Recently, we were at our cottage on a rainy weekend, when we happened to get a break from the rain for a few hours.  I decided I’d better take the opportunity to cut the grass since we wouldn’t be back for a few weeks.

It’s such a small piece of lawn that the job really doesn’t take much time.  But, as I was running the lawnmower over our grass, I thought about my brother’s lawn.  He had left his cottage a few hours earlier in the rain and I had noticed that his lawn needed a cut.

Since he’s up at his cottage almost every weekend and often cuts our grass (because we don’t get there all that frequently), I thought it was my chance to return the favour.  So, when I finished our lawn, I walked over to his place and started to cut his grass.

As I got close to finishing, I started to think about my brother’s neighbour who’s wife had just had surgery and was in intensive care at the hospital.  I thought, “That guy doesn’t need to be bothered with his lawn”.  So, as I finished with my brother’s lawn, I just kept going and worked on his neighbour’s.

As I walked back to my place pushing my lawnmower, I realized this was one of the few times a job that got bigger didn’t become frustrating or discouraging.  In fact, I walked with a sense of satisfaction that I had, in some small way, been a help to others.

Here’s the thing:  One of the greatest ways we can show the love of God to others is not by telling them but by showing them.  The problem is it takes time and, for many of us, time is precious.  We don’t have a lot of extra time to allow the task or job we are working on to become any bigger.  But sometimes that is exactly how we are to “love one another as I have loved you” John 13:34.

Until Next Time!

Pastor Paul

Question: What kind of “loving one another” acts have you done recently?