Mowing Woes

Mowing Woes
Do you know how much grass there is when you mow two acres? Let’s just say it can be backbreaking, especially when a city boy decides to bag a two acre lawn. I love my lawn, and I like the way it looks when it is freshly mowed. There is something about the clean lines. Then it rains. I like the rain too, at least until I remember the grass will grow faster and it starts all over again. A never ending cycle.

When you have lush green grass it is easy to see the cycle as something you have to bear under. But when you live in the desert, rain is a precious commodity. It is a blessing because it causes the grass to grow and your livestock is fed. When you live in a land of rock and sand, you look to the sky, and pray that it opens its wealth to nourish the earth. It reminds me of the Psalmist:

  • May he be like rain that falls
  • on the mown grass,
  • like showers that water the earth!
  • In his days may the righteous flourish,
  • and peace abound, till the moon be no more!   Psalm 72:6

The Psalmist extols the virtue of God’s blessing in the descriptive narrative of rain and mown lawn. The writer prays that God will be like the rain. He isn’t praying for rain, rather he is asking for God to fall on him and bring the kind of presence that causes refreshing and  growth. The request isn’t for a season, or even two, but until the moon itself ceases to exist. Imagine God answering that kind of prayer. What would it be like? How would it feel to have the presence of God with you all the time, to find refuge and refreshing whenever you need it?

  • If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, John 14:16
  • These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. John 14:26
  • Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment…When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.. John 16:7-14

As followers of Jesus the Holy Spirit of God indwells us. In our dry times, He is ready to pour out the refreshing rain that comes from the Father. We are never alone, we are never without hope, and His presence is with us until the moon no longer exists. He is our rain on a freshly mown lawn.

In His day, the day of our savior’s return, the righteous will flourish and peace will abound. But in this day, we have the blessing of His righteousness in us, through us, and delivered through our testimonies to those who will listen.

Do you feel dry, abandoned, lost without hope? Ask the Father and he will send the refreshing presence of His Spirit, and as you walk in Him, you will be strengthened with every spiritual gift under the sun. Bring on the rain. I’m just saying…