Grass vs. Weeds

I'm pretty sure the only time I ever really enjoyed mowing the yard was when I was a kid and got to mow with Daddy's Snapper Comet riding lawn mower. That was more like riding a go-kart for an hour and a half than it was actually performing a chore. I can still remember that mower ... going as fast as I could on the straight parts and waiting until the last moment to slow down on the curves. But what I remember even more was that Daddy would let me do the easy part and ride on the Snapper and mow while he would do the hard part and use the push mower to do all the trimming. You know ... there are some things you don't realize when you're young ... like how lonely Mom must have been all those years she lived alone ... alone when Daddy was so sick with Alzheimer's, bedridden and having no idea who she was ... alone after he died, in that big old house all by herself. Or how much Daddy's legs hurt as he grew older ... how he would put hot towels on his calf muscles when they would cramp and ache ... how his legs must have hurt as he walked behind the push mower around his large yard. Yep ... there are some things you don't realize when you're young ... and when you finally understand them as an adult ... there are some things you wish you could go back and change.

Since I didn't feel too great last weekend, I didn't mow my yard like I normally do most Saturdays and Sundays during the spring and summer months. The weather guys were predicting storms and rain last night (yeah, yeah, I know what you're thinking, but after my favorite weather guy said there wasn't going to be severe weather, I slept in my bed instead of in the basement in my fort), so I hustled home from work, took care of Julie and Ollie, ate dinner, and headed outside to mow. I knew that if it rained, the grass would grow quickly and I didn't want to have to bag the clippings ... I hate it when the grass gets too tall and I have to bag it. It takes me three times as long to mow when I have to do that, and I hate the whole process of bagging ... stopping and emptying the heavy lawn mower bag into paper lawn bags, starting the mower over and over again, dragging the full bags to the curb for pickup. Thankfully, I just had to mow last night and not bag ... I'll have to mow again this weekend, but I'd rather mow twice than bag once.

I've been in a nostalgic mood lately, and as I pushed the mower through the grass last night, I couldn't help but think about how different my children were when it came to yard work when they were young. Matt loved working in the yard and growing flowers, and my yard always looked great when he lived at home. Brad hated mowing, planting, raking, gardening, mulching ... you name it, he simply hated working in the yard. And Meghann fell kind of in the middle ... she enjoyed mowing and she liked eating the vegetables from the garden, but she didn't care much for planting or weeding. As I mowed and thought about those days when the kids were here ... yep, I got pretty teary. All my kids will be here on Sunday ... a few people are coming over to meet C.J. and say goodbye to Matt and Becca before they move to Canada, and Meghann's birthday is on Monday so we'll get to celebrate with her while we are together, too. I couldn't help but think that the times when we will all be together will probably not happen very often once Matt, Becca and C.J. move ... yep, more tears.

When I finished mowing, I walked around the yard pulling weeds from the mulch around my shrubbery and lilies, and I looked at the flowers I had planted in my hanging baskets and pots on the deck. I sure wouldn't have so many weeds in the yard if Matt were taking care of the yard, I thought. He always knew how to stop the weeds from taking over the grass ... and now I've got more weeds than grass. I kicked off my yard-mowing shoes in the garage, put on my slippers and took Julie and Ollie outside to play for a while before it got dark and the rain came. Grass vs. weeds, I thought ... grass vs. weeds. Tossing the ball to Julie and smiling as Ollie tried his best to beat her to it, I began to think about the weeds in my life ... about how easy it is to let the weeds overrun the grass of my heart ... about how quickly those weeds can sprout and choke out the grass ... about how much I need to soak in the fertilizer of God's Word, how much I need to accept the weed killer of His correction and conviction, how much I need the rain of His forgiveness and the sunlight of His love.

"So I said, ‘I have been expelled from Your sight. Nevertheless I will look again toward Your holy temple.’ Water encompassed me to the point of death. The great deep engulfed me, weeds were wrapped around my head. I descended to the roots of the mountains. The earth with its bars was around me forever, but You have brought up my life from the pit, O LORD my God." Jonah 2:4-6