Sue and I are so thankful for getting to live in a home with a yard. But it has come with some challenges … like malfunctioning string trimmers. Weedies … as the locals call them. I repaired the one that came with the house a couple of times, but never to the satisfaction of the gardener. Then I bought one off Facebook Marketplace. It said it was a Stihl, but I had my doubts from the day the guy sold it to me out of his trunk. I didn’t intentionally look for a crooked deal … but the brand name on that unit should have been spelled Steal. The gardener brought his own for a while but then it quit working. Anyway, the lawn was getting totally out of hand, so I went and purchased a genuine Stihl at Cochez. The trimmer cut half the lawn, quit and would not restart. I evidently live in the Weedie Triangle … a mysterious zone that kills string trimmers.
I slogged the defective unit back to the store bracing for a struggle. The manager there was excellent and went out of his way to accommodate me. I came back with something much less expensive and much less Panama. I bought a cortagrama … a good old-fashioned lawn mower.
It started with one pull and stayed running … the exact opposite of most weedies. The low purr of its larger engine was soothing compared to the whipping, whirling whine of a string trimmer. I plodded along happily behind it instead of pivoting my sacroiliac into spasming knot. And … I didn’t come in smelling like a Hookah bar that specializes in crude oil. Most of all … it was familiar. I hadn’t realized that I missed mowing the lawn. There are plenty of other jobs to keep the gardener busy; I get to mow the lawn.
It was strange how long it took me to go back to a time-tested tool. I guess I was convinced that the locals knew something I didn’t. That there was some reason a mower wouldn’t work. Without much examination, I tried really hard to conform to the weedie culture. Even after I’d purchased the mower, I felt like I was getting strange looks loading it in my car. I did have some prep to make the lawn safe, but found my old friend the mower worked perfectly.
Why do Christians try so hard to fit into the culture of this fallen world? We are citizens of a different Country and its time to stop apologizing for its values. It reminds me of a couple of scriptures …
This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. Jeremiah 6:16
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God. Romans 12:2
