Still More About My Lawnmower - For The Third Day In A Row!!!

Tuesday I spent the day tidying up Class B projects, answering e-mails (over a hundred in my inbox), crafting some new tin boxes for my wooden matches, and obsessing about my lawnmower.

In case you haven’t guessed, the incident Saturday really bugged me. Obviously my ire over the lawnmower represents a manifestation of a much deeper problem. Remember the single straw that broke the camel’s back?

I can carry a huge load of ordinary troubles then when one more little thing comes up, I react all out of proportion to that small matter.

I doubt if I’m the only Christian to loose my cool over small matters which reach a critical mass. Like the old man I heard about who committed suicide when he lost his favorite hat or the long-married couple who split up over where to hang a picture.

Unless we deal with them, life’s aggravations have a cumulative effect and one small, additional peeve tips the balance so that we A-Bomb Luxemburg.

Such things ought not to be.

Incidentally, in a phone conversation this morning a person who read my blog said that she’s bringing me a new lawnmower next week.

I’m grateful.

But I have not written three postings about lawnmower problems trying to weasel a new mower out of someone. My reaction to the mower problem is the symptom not the disease.

My whole life seems like one big lawnmower with my necktie tangled in the blade. That is what I’m really writing about: living and how to handle it as a Christian.

While the new mower solves the practical lawn care problem, the theological implications remain.

Why, when I follow all the right steps do things still go wrong?

If God loves me, if He is all powerful, If He is all knowing, if He is everywhere present, then why pain, aggravation, hassle, waste of energy, frustration and why haven’t I won Lotto yet?

In our group conversation yesterday Sam said that God is completing us, perfecting us, disciplining us, polishing us so that we reflect His glory. He is conforming us into the image of His Son. He is making us Christ-like.

And He uses abrasives to smooth us out and grind off the rough edges.

The purpose of God’s treatment of us is not the test; honing our reaction to problems is.

I struggle with two major difficulties involved in my unhealthy relationship with my lawnmower: Control and Reaction….

But, to tell the truth, I’m stymied.

I’ve thought about these problems so much that I don’t know what I think anymore. I’ve already spent two hours this morning writing this little bit of a journal entry and I still haven’t been able to think the thing through.

I give up.

I can’t solve the problem.

So I’m going to quit and backburner the whole matter for now.

In spite of all evidence to the contrary, I believe that God loves me and cares what happens to me in every little detail of my life.

When hairy problems arise, I rely on the fact that the very hairs on my head are numbered and that He who names each star in the heavens also knows every sparrow that falls.

The love of God is shown towards us in that while we were still sinners, stymied and confused and lacking answers, Christ died for us.

And He rose from the tomb under His own steam because He is the Prince of Life, God come in the flesh. And He promised that He is with us even until the end of the age and He returns to take us to Himself.

When all is said and done, lawnmower problems — or any other problem we face — hardly matter.

If I can’t understand how my lawnmower works, how can I expect to understand how the King of the Universe works?

Five minutes after he gets there, the dumbest man in Heaven will know more about God than the smartest man on earth — and it won’t matter to him one little bit.

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Want To Hear A Lawnmower Joke?

Years ago I read this book (sorry, but I can't remember author or title) in which a thief steals a riding lawnmower.

To steal it he snipped the lock off the garden gate with bolt cutters. Then he pried open the locked shed with a crowbar. Then he cut the chain locking the mower with his bolt cutters and rode away.

A policeman stopped him on the road and accused him of stealing the riding mower.

"I didn't steal it," the thief protested. "They left it out 'cause they didn't want it".

The cop said, "What do you mean they didn't want it. You had to cut through three locks to get it".

The thief said, "Yes, but if they really wanted to keep it, they'd have locked it up better".