Learning Excellence on a Lawn Mower

Written by Wesley Grizzard

What can I learn from sitting on a lawn mower you ask? Well, you came to the right place. I’m going to give you several things that you can learn from being on a lawn mower. Reasons that stretch from simply knowing how to drive one, to how to stripe those yards like a pro! Buckle up because here we go folks!

 First off, it’s zero turns people! Nearly everyone these days uses a zero turn! Zero turns (given the right brand) are finely tuned grass cutting machines! They go backwards, they go forwards, they turn 360’s while staying in one spot, hence the name zero turn. When sitting on one, you have your two handles, one on the right, and one on the left. If you push the right one forward while pulling the left one back simultaneously, you will turn left. If you pull the right side back and push the left side forward you’ll turn right. If you push both of them forward at the same time you’ll go straight, and backwards by pulling them both back simultaneously. It takes some practice but once you get the hang of it, it’s quite exciting!

 Next you’ve gotta know how high to cut that grass people. Too high and it’ll look sloppy, too low and you’ll scalp it. Scalping it means that you basically cut it so low that the only thing left is mostly dirt. So as you can see there is a happy medium you’ve got to have. Depending on the type of grass it will differ in how high or low you cut someone’s grass. Attention to detail is very important! Kind of like in ministry, attention to detail is important even in something as simple as, say cleaning a room for a guest. You want that guest to come in and see that you took the time and effort to clean it for them. Why you ask? Well not necessarily for you to look good, but for them to see Christ through it. When people see that you really care about what you’re doing, it can make a big impact even if you aren’t aware.

 Next, you need proper ear protection! And what I mean by that is that you need something to block the sound, working with loud equipment can damage hearing over time. Don’t be stupid, wear some ear muffs and hold on to that hearing, you may need it. One alternative is listening to music, get yourself a good pair of headphones and some good jams. Nothing like a nice sunny day mowing the lawn and jamming out at the same time. Just don’t let those jams distract you from the task at hand people! Just like you don’t want to let the devil distract you from what you’re doing for Christ. In the same way that you protect your hearing with headphones you can protect your heart from being lead astray by having that daily time with the Lord to talk to Him and be in His word.

 Lastly, you’ve got to have a keen eye and steady hands to keep that mower straight and make solid lines that look professional. The perfect line is what it’s all about people! There’s nothing like driving past a yard that’s freshly cut with professional looking lines. I mean come on, who doesn’t want their yard to look flawless? You want that yard to look so professionally cut that someone mistakes it for a golf course. What comes to mind for me is my walk with Christ, I want it to look perfect and professional and flawless like I do when I cut grass. But in reality I know that I’m not perfect, I make mistakes, even when I cut grass. Jesus was the only perfect person at anything. So even though I can’t be perfect in everything I do I know that because of God’s grace I don’t have to be perfect. But because of what God did for me by sending His Son to die for me, it challenges me to be more like Him regardless of my flaws, and to do my best even if I mess up sometimes. That’s what really matters to the Lord, not if I perfectly cut a yard.

Those are the essentials my friends, if you can remember these things you can have the yard of your dreams. Get a zero turn to start with. Remember the turning process that I described. Find the right height to cut the grass on. You must have ear protection! Remember to have a keen eye and steady hands. And lastly, practice, practice, practice. There’s a great big world of green grass just waiting to be cut. So what are you waiting for? Other than summer to get here so the grass grows. So go cut it people! And remember, every job is important, from mowing grass, to sitting in an office folding envelopes, even taking out the trash. When you do something with the focus of honoring the Lord, that’s what makes that job important!

Wesley is a part of the CBM Internship program, which exists to encourage young people to experience missions! To learn more about the CBM Internship program click HERE [www.childrensbibleministries.net/internships].

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