God Mowed Me Over

There was a season when God taught me some valuable lessons on forgiveness.  It involved a lawn mower, a fence post and whole lot of sweat and tears.  That hot summer day, I was about the business of mowing our yard, my weekly chore.  I didn't want to be there, I never did.  

Because our yard is really renovated pasture grass, there are surprises hidden from time to time, dirt holes, tire tracks, mole mounds and tunnels.  But there was one obstacle that I had forgotten about that was hidden and deeply planted.  It was an old buried and broken steel fence post that had been cemented 3-feet-deep in the yard.     It was barely peeking over the blades of grass.  I didn't notice how close I was mowing next to it, until of course, it was too late.  Thwack!  The mower had a blade-on collision with the post and it stopped my mower cold.  

Hitting that post collided my attitude also.  It stopped right in the middle of my lousy temperament too.  As I was already dreading this chore, now it seemed that my chore list got a little bit longer to complete.  That thwack just forced the mower out of commission for the next 15 minutes.  

"Time to cool off". I told myself.  I had to catch my breath a little.

It seemed my mower was needing some breathing room too.  I walked away to get a cold drink in the house.  One thing I know about mowers when hitting steel posts every other swipe, they like to take a breather before returning to full crank position.  

I swigged down some icy cold water and it helped cool my body down.  But heat rose in my frustrated heart.  Resentment was building as the clock tick-tocked.  The last thing I needed that day was a delay in the finish.  I went back outside to asses the restart-the-mower plan.  I bent over to pull the start cord on the mower.  

Guess what?  Did you know that mowers have a sense of humor?  Deep inside it's grass laden underbelly, that old mower was laughing hysterically at me for taking such a short breathing break.  "In your dreams Jack!"  Suddenly it was shouting "hands off"!!!  I failed to see the humor.

I wasn't laughing...I just got more frustrated.  And my frustration was fueled by an escalating anger until I screamed a little.  Where upon, and henceforth, I invited myself to the biggest pity party on the block that day.  

It was a party of two.  Me and God.

I looked down at the problem post and said, "This is all YOUR fault!"  (Can you tell I talk to inanimate objects too much?)  The tip of the fence post just sat there buried, blinking at me with a blank stare.  

And then it happened.   Then God tapped me on my sweaty shoulder and immediately started resolving my resentment. 

"You see that fence post, it's buried like the unyielding bitterness you have buried in your heart.  You have held on to this unforgiving spirit for a while now..it's time to give that to Me.  I have watched you dig resentment, cemented with the deep-seated feelings around your hurts."    

God's gentle tap hit my heart with heavy conviction.  I saw His point.  Yeah, I got it.  I had some more clean-up to do.  As my eyes leaked onto my sweaty tank-top, my heart confessed the error of my ways.  I had been carrying some deeply hidden junk and that day God uncovered and mowed down the tangled, overgrown weeds.  He brought grace and forgiveness into those hardened, buried places.  

This is the part of the story where I tell you that I forgave those on God's agenda and then jumped right up and resumed mowing.  That didn't happen.  I spent some time crying, forgiving, and listening to God.  I was also  "mowed down" by my Creator who cared enough to put a fence post in my way, so I would be stopped by it, so He could give me a life-long lesson in forgiveness   

I took notes that in God's forgiveness school.  My grassy knees were imprinted with visible outlines of weeds pressed in as I pressed into God's grace and let the tears flow.  It seems my heart needed a pressure valve, and once the explosion of tears was over, there was peace and a light feeling in my spirit.  

No more heaviness, no more shame, no more blame.   

God didn't intend for us to carry the burden of an unforgiving spirit. It will hold you captive and bind you up tighter than a straight jacket. So if you have some resentment in your heart, let God tap your shoulder and mow you over with His wonderful gift of grace! We serve a God who commands us to forgive, over and over.  Yes, even that person you are thinking of right now.   Jesus taught us to forgive with the finest example of asking the Father to forgive those who put him on the cross.  He didn't turn a blind eye to our wrongdoings or injustices, nor did He let anger fester in His heart.  He freely gave the gift of forgiveness and releasing us from guilt.  

"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8

Not forgiving someone poisons our soul and taints our relationships. I need forgiveness on a daily basis....sometimes minute by minute. God freely gives forgiveness and so should I.  So should you. 

Who do you need to forgive today?  From one mower to another, there is God's grace to help you dig out those deeply planted "posts" in your life.

S-L-O-W-D-O-W-N

Watch out..lawn mowing season has begun.  If you are frequent reader here, you might be acquainted with the fact that I have a lesson that sometimes emerges out of my time spent with the mower and God.  For me, it really can be a time to listen to God, process and learn.

This past week's message for me was S-L-O-W-D-O-W-N.  

When I mow, I'll admit that I want to get it done and fast.  I really don't like to spend time doing it.  So when it's time, I like to get the mixture of fumes, sweat and grass clippings over with.  Another confession, some spiritual lessons learned are harder than the actual mowing process.   With either point it takes most of my afternoon.    


While mowing last week it was challenge because the grass was really high.  My pasture-grass-yard had transformed into a jungle during the first two weeks of March.  The season of Spring was here for about 10 minutes and then we said hello to summer.  With the high grass, there were some hard inanimate things that were laying hidden.  Unfortunately, I found such hidden objects with the mower.  There was an awful collision of the blade and the junk in the tall grass...then the mower stopped.  


Upon careful inspection, it was revealed that the blade was bent.  Not just a little bent, but bent down in such a way that it would churn up the ground every time it rotated.  It was like mowing with a garden tiller. It didn't work very well.  The blade had hit something HARD!  I continued to limp the mower along to finish the yard.  It was taking twice as long since I had to slow down because of the bent blade.  It was frustrating at best.  As I was mowing, God reminded me that I also might need to slow down.


I realized in the moment of churning the turf that I cause my own churning chaos.  I create it, in fact, I am an overachiever in this category.  So now....I need to have a collision of God's blade and some hard things hidden in my heart.  And that hurts.  I need to slow down to find rest in God.
  

1 Corinthians 7:17 "Nevertheless, each one should retain the place in life that the Lord assigned to him and to which God has called him.  This is the rule I lay down in all the churches."

I need to find my place that the Lord has assigned to me and has called me to.  I need to find that "sweet spot".  Why is this so hard for me?  Because I like to do.  I like to do a lot of ministry things.  I like to serve, I like to move, I like to progress and help.  I like to accomplish.  I don't like standing still or becoming stagnant in my service.  I feel guilty if I am not serving enough.  And I need to look to Jesus for my example of ministry and service.  


Jesus' ministry on earth was only three years.  In comparison to today’s church standards, Jesus probably wouldn't have been very effective.  He kept a pretty low profile, he healed people and then told the healed to not tell what had just happened.  He liked to be by himself, to seek the Lord and pray.  Jesus often stopped and took time to teach the children.  He would retreat on top of mountains, and go deep in the olive groves.  Even though He was very relational, He didn’t care much about making the most of his time talking to huge crowds.  In his three short years, he accomplished great things and yet he still took lots of breaks.  He didn't have a 3-year-world-tour plan calculated out for each and every stop and how it could be most impacting.  


He just sought the will of His Father.
He paused.
He prayed. 
He listened. 
He obeyed.  
He rested.  
He knew God.  

So here you are...you work, you have a family, you are active in church, you attend church on Sunday, Wednesday brings prayer meeting and kids zone, you attend or lead a women’s Bible study, teach Sunday school, sing in the choir, play an instrument for some special concert during Easter.  And your list goes on and on.  You accomplish a lot.  We don’t have time to think about how busy you are.  You just go, go, and go some more.  You don’t take time to rest.  You don't take a break.  And then your spiritual blade hits something hidden in your heart and you stop.  

The church needs us right?  How could we say no to the church?  If we don’t do it who will?  Can we really say no as a Christian and not feel guilty about it?  Taking time off makes us feel guilty.   That's why studying Jesus' ministry is so important for us overachievers and chaos causers.  The difference is that Jesus knew his limits.  And when he knew it was time to take a rest, he didn’t let anything get in the way of that.  Jesus was intentional with everything, so when he rested he did so with a purpose.  He said no.  Jesus didn’t assume the guilt either.  When he spent time alone, he knew he needed it.  He chose to do it and knew that if he didn’t he would soon be spread thin.

Doing with focused, rested intention... impacts. 

If you are overwhelmed with life and have a lot of chaos swirling around in your head and house, then slow down.  Start creating some time margins that help you breathe a little.  It’s okay to say no.  Go ahead…rest.  Jesus thought it important, why don’t you?  Don't kid yourself into believing that you can't take a break. This is the kind of thinking will only drive you to exhaustion.  And it's prideful to think if you don't do it no one else will.  Even God the Creator rested on the seventh day. Jesus constantly withdrew from the crowds to connect alone with the Father.

R-E-S-T!!!  S-L-O-W-D-O-W-N...  Jesus had the most important and perfect ministry of all.  Yet he still had time to accomplish His purpose on earth.  Whatever Jesus has called you to; don’t you think he has taken care of your rest breaks too?   He didn’t intend for you to scurry around with a crammed-packed-schedule with His calling on your shoulders only to wear you out for the sake of the gospel message.  He does ask us to be faithful to our calling and to trust Him for the results in what He has called us to do.  He has planned some seasons of rest and refreshing, because He knows we can't keep up with the break-neck speed the world tries to conform us to.  I need time to refresh and rejuvenate my soul.  Jesus knew you were going to need some rest too, so he showed you how He did it…He retreated and drew close to his Father.  He said no...because he truly understood a key ingredient of a powerful ministry--constant refueling by God's strength.

God commands you to rest. 

What do you find so hard about resting?  What is your "sweet spot"?