Monday, June 9, 2014

Mowing the Lawn


Is not something that I generally wake up in the morning, jump out of bed, and  shout "I get to mow the lawn today!" over. It's just not that exciting. But it's not that bad, either. Mowing the lawn can be quite fun, if I'm in the right mood.

I suppose that is the problem, isn't it. My mood.




So when my parents reminded me of my promise to mow the lawn, which I had carelessly forgotten, I was not too thrilled. I had just exercised, gotten all sweaty, showered, gotten all clean, put on some pretty nice clothes, and fixed my hair. I don't do those things very often. Except shower; I do do that quite frequently.

But it was quite inconvenient for me to now change my clothes, pull back my hair, and get all sweaty again. I suppose that's shallow, but we all have our excuses. I wasn't going to do it.

But then I remembered something; something I've read in the Bible. God says if we make a promise, we must fulfill it. He wants us to be honest, trustworthy people. He wants us to keep our word, even when we change our minds. In doing so, we honor God.

I talk about honoring God. I talk about worshiping God. I pray that my life will be pleasing to him, that I will live in a way that honors him. It sounds nice. But those flowery words I spout out don't say anything concrete about what that looks like in real life. Friends, can I offer something concrete?

When you promise to do something and later fulfilling that promise becomes inconvenient, honor it anyway. When your church needs help with something you're not too fond of (Eg: mowing the lawn) and there is no one else to do it, offer your services. When there are little, simple things that you just don't feel like doing, and seriously, they're not that important anyways, do them. Because God delights in us mowing the lawn. God delights in us serving in the nursery so the mother can sit in church. God delights in us living our everyday lives with integrity, humility, and that little thing called selflessness.

God doesn't always ask us to die for him. But sometimes he asks us to mow the lawn for him.


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