One of the things I really enjoy doing is mowing the lawn! With a fairly sedentary job, which sees me behind either a desk or a wheel, the physical exercise is much needed. Like many others whose work has to do with people, there is also a sense of completion in mowing the lawn… I can see what I have done … there are immediate results.
Sure, in summer especially, and when we have rain, it has to be mown again fairly soon, but it’s good to be able to stand back and survey the completed work. People-work, on the other hand, is always a ‘work in progress’.
Green would have to be one of God’s favourite colours. The grass, combined with the leaves of many different shades of green, is very soothing to the eye. I love to enjoy God’s good creation.
They say that “the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.” This is a saying that reminds us how easy it is to be tempted to think that life would be better with someone else, or easier somewhere else. But the additional words, “until you realise it still has to be mown,” provide a healthy reality check that can keep us from ruining our own and other’s lives.
Marriage is one relationship that needs regular maintenance. Everyone gains when we do the maintenance work in our own ‘garden’. The rewards of regular weeding out of selfish thoughts, words and actions are obvious. On the other hand, when we succumb to the temptation to move on rather than undertake this work, we simply take our problems with us.
Working at taking off our excess kilograms by tending the lawn is one thing, but taking off our excess self-centredness (which so often rears its ugly head to diminish the quality of our marriages and friendships) is even better.
God has made so many variations of green that He clearly loves it and wants us to enjoy it. He has also made us varied and different, and wants us to fully enjoy and grow our relationships, our friendships and marriages, by carrying out the necessary ‘weeding’ to keep them in good shape. For those of us who are married… keep maintaining your marriage.