How many of you are responsible for mowing the yard for your family home? Maybe some of you even mow for others to earn money. I mow my own yard and usually I enjoy it. But there have been some things in my life that have kept me busy and then it seemed every time I set out to mow, it would rain. So I put it off. Seemed there would always be time “later” to get it done.
I want to share some of the lessons I learned from mowing this morning.
Do It Now – Don’t wait until it’s convenient or until it’s not so hot or until you get all the other stuff done. It just makes things harder. It’s kind of like praying for your dad or your mom. Do it now. Don’t wait until you have extra time; offer up little prayers all day long. Don’t wait until circumstances change; it’s your prayers that may change the circumstances. Make your prayers for Mom or Dad a priority. First thing in the morning, get up and pray for your parents. Ask God how you can show unconditional love to them today and then pray for opportunities to do just that. Know that every prayer offered on their behalf is heard in heaven and that Jesus is moving things around in the heavenlies to bring you blessings on earth.
Yet whenever your people turned and cried to you again for help, you listened once more from heaven. In your wonderful mercy, you rescued them many times! Nehemiah 9:28b (NLT)
Have the Right Equipment – My faithful mower is very old but she has always done a good job for me. This morning I had to go over things two and three times. Why? Because I hadn’t sharpened the mower blade in a long time. It just couldn’t do a good job. How do you pray for your dad or your mom? Do you start out with requests and forget all about the praising and the thanking? Do you just go on about your business without waiting for God’s answer? Too often we hurry through our prayers, giving the Lord a list of our requests, ending with a quick “Amen.” But once we pray, it is good to sit quietly and wait for the Lord to speak to your heart. Even if answers aren’t clear, you can know that He has heard because you will feel your soul fill with His peace and comfort.
The Lord is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him. So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord. Lamentations 3:25-26 (NLT)
Wait for the Right Time – We’ve had a lot of rain here lately but I really wanted to get the mowing done this morning so I could get on to my other stuff. As you can probably guess, the grass was still very wet and every swipe of the mower ended up with clumps of grass on one side or the other. Now I’ll have to go back out later and rake all those up. I should have waited until later in the day when the grass was a little drier. Have you been in a hurry for your dad or mom to come back home? Do you question why it is taking so much time? God’s timing is perfect. He will not answer a minute too soon or a minute too late. Be patient with the Lord as He is patient with You. He wants everything to be just right. If He waits, it is only so that He can bring about His best blessing.
“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9 (NLT)
The mowing lessons I learned this morning were things I already knew. I just needed to be reminded of them. And in this mundane, ordinary chore, the Lord had some lessons for me, too. How about you? Do you need some “mowing lessons” today? Ask the Lord to show you what to pray for and how to pray it. He’ll let you know. Because He loves to hear our prayers.
God bless
A Stander in Nebraska
