Mowing the Dirt

The other day I mowed my lawn for the first time of the season, and for me what that means is that there were problems. Every year, the first mow of the season, something goes wrong, or at very least isn’t quite right. One year it was the air filter, another year it was the blade, and there’s always some lag from having sat idle in the garage for months. This year was no different. It took me two days just to get the beast started, and then when it got moving there was another problem. This is a normal problem around here, but it seemed worse than ever.

Dust. Piles and piles of dust. Flying everywhere. It was like I was mowing the dirt for about one third of my time outside. Because it doesn’t rain often, there was some grass that desperately needed cutting, but there was much of my lawn that was still dirt. Dust got in my face, it got in my hair, it got in my eyes, mouth, and everywhere else. It even got through my shoes, socks, and onto the bottoms of my feet. I think I kicked up more dust with my lawn mower than I have ever seen before.

I think a lot of our relationships with friends can be like mowing a lawn. Sometimes moments happen in a relationship where, just like a lawnmower to grass, we face some damage. The lawnmower comes through our relationship and starts to cut things down. But that lawnmower is there for the good of the lawn, just like the problems and situations that come into our lives are there to make us, and in turn our relationships, stronger. But if we haven’t taken care of our lawn, if it’s mostly dirt and a little grass, the lawnmower turns our lawn into a mess of dust. If our relationships are based on ourselves and we don’t put the effort in to make them the best, then when we face the problems that all friendships face, we end up kicking up dust rather than creating a beautiful lawn. Today, find a friend and invest something, selflessly, into that friendship, so that when the lawnmower comes, you will be ready.