As many of you know, we moved into our new home last November.
Since then, we have been settling into the interior of the home. Throughout the winter we were attending to building some shelves, patching up a few places, and lots of other general maintenance. We moved in the day after the first permanent snowfall of winter. Once the snow started piling up on the back deck and in the back yard, the outdoor spaces became largely unusable.
The most significant yard upkeep that I learned after 10 years of renting was a bit of good and timely snow clearing. Our shared driveway with our neighbour meant that clearing our snow was a courtesy to her (and a good life choice!).
Now, I will confess my spring/summer/fall yard upkeep habits were not as stellar.
The few flower beds around the house often got overrun with weeds and the spider plant(?) bushes got out of control. There were certainly rabbits living in one of the flowers beds for several years. The fall leaves only got fully raked up some years.
But the one thing I kind of tried to keep up with was mowing the lawn – which I suppose is required by city bylaw. The lawn mower provided by the landlords was an old smelly two-stroke with the wheels almost coming off and handle bars that flopped all over. After almost losing a toe one-too-many times, I bought a battery operated mower to be an environmentally responsible adult (and to have a virtually maintenance-free tool).
Still, I did everything wrong in terms of lawn care and the lawn was in really rough shape by the end of our time in that house.
There is something about being a homeowner rather than a legally-obligated renter that quickly changes one’s attitude towards yard maintenance. This spring, I have spent more time and money on yard upkeep than ever previously. I have watched Youtube videos and read gardening advice online. I have talked to my neighbour about how to keep up our shared lawn space. I have been to Canadian Tire so many times that one of the cashiers told me that I should get a rewards card if I was going to be there every day. I may have been a little snarky when I said I wouldn’t keep coming there every day forever.
Apparently, lawns need more than just occasional mowing to be healthy. I also learned that hand tools for detaching and aerating add up to quite the workout! Our garage shelves now have things like grass over-seed, fertilizer, weed killer, a weed-pulling tool, a trimmer/edger, leaf blower, different kinds of rakes and, of course, the hose and sprinkler are getting lots of use these days. Also, who knew that mowing once every two to three weeks is bad for your lawn?
Okay… so what am I getting at here with this long description of tedious yard work? Well, I think there is some kind of metaphor here.
In different times or seasons of life, our ability to invest time and energy into the various parts of our lives changes. It could be lawn care, but it also just as likely could be things like work, family relationships (marriage and parenting), community involvement, hobbies, and church and faith.
Sometimes it is all we can muster to just do enough not to get fired at work. To volunteer to bring a couple of bags of Doritos to the family potluck. To write a cheque for the kids’ or grandkids’ school fundraiser. To drag ourselves out of bed on Sunday to make it to church half a dozen times a year.
And at other times, we have energy to invest: In important projects or growing our skills at work. We are the family members with a home, time and energy for hosting family and friends on a regular basis. There is a passion within us to serve in the community with service clubs or time to get into a hobby that brings us joy. We are able to serve at church on council or read the lessons or help with confirmation or mow the church lawn (in addition to our own!), and so on.
We all move in and out of seasons of life when we are able to do more or to do less. And when we want to have a healthy well-manicured lawn and yard, or when we want to grow a rich and vibrant faith, it takes time and energy to invest in the tools and resources that we need – connecting with a community of others doing the same, as well as with teachers or guides who can help us along the way.
And if our lawn looks great but our neighbour’s is half dead and full of weeds (one can substitute similar situations in other areas of life), begrudging them their lack of capacity doesn’t help. Rather, we need to extend our neighbours grace and time to survive their seasons of low capacity, knowing that we ourselves have almost certainly been there at times or will be in the future.
Our most powerful witness is when we are able to do more. A well manicured and vibrant faith practice shows more clearly the transforming work of the Holy Spirit.
Discipleship, in all its forms, doesn’t usually happen in a straight line. Yet, in whatever space we find ourselves, Jesus is walking with us and calls us to walk with each other – in both the high and low times, whether the grass is green or brown.
The Millennial Pastor 