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Walking Behind the Mower

Two kinds of grass grow in our yard. Most of the grass is short but there are tall wispy patches that pop out over the lawn causing the earth to have a bad hair day.

From my vantage point behind the push mower, I have noticed something about the relationship between mower and grass. The mower chomps and spits out the short turf but an understanding exists between the mower and the taller grass. As the mower comes near, the tall strands bow down and pay homage to the blade. The mower acknowledges this show of respect and rolls harmlessly over the top of the tall stalks. The strands stand to their full height after the mower passes by. When I am finished the lawn looks like the tops of a hundred heads are popping out it.

I have discovered a trick to give these stubborn hairs a buzz cut...I pull the mower backward. The mower only has eyes in the front it seems. It cannot see the grass kowtowing and so decapitates it without mercy.

Stuart does not understand my technique. "The mower blade is doing the same thing going backward or forward." He goes on with other technical explanations involving mulching mowers (we don't have a mulching mower) and handle position. Stuart mows from on high. He rides over the top of the lawn on his John Deere. He does not walk behind my mower and so he doesn't know. Miss Norma walks behind her mower and she agrees with me. The mower cuts better backward.

God has been calling to us through the ages and through the pages of His Word..."Come. Be my friend." He called to me gently...persistently... from the time I left the hands that fashioned me until one formed by the same hands was placed in my arms. I finally agreed, ""OK, Lord, I'll follow you."

I know people who look down on this decision from seats of academia, tradition, agnosticism.

"Your God is trivial...impotent...irrelevant."

"Your God is all rules...restrictive and confining."

"Your God is only love and no justice."

"Your God is only justice and no love."

These very words have come from my own lips, but the view is altered when you follow in the footsteps of the great I AM...when you fear Him...for then He confides in you.*

His confidences?... "I am just. I am mighty. I am grace. I am mercy. I am forgiveness. I am restoration. I am compassion. I am freedom... I am your friend."

Let Him lead and see if this in not so.


*words from Exodus 3:14 and Psalm 25:14

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