I’ve had a thought/blog brewing in my head for a long time. Sitting on the lawn mower during the spring and summer gives me an occasion to do a lot of thinking. An interesting comparison occurred to me one time while doing this.
I was thinking about what it takes to make nice straight strips while mowing. Don’t those well manicured lines in the lawns of nice homes and at ball fields impress you? Let’s take a look at a few different scenarios of how you could guide yourself while mowing the lawn.
If you were to try and mow the lawn while looking behind yourself, obviously it wouldn’t work very well. You’d drift left and right and probably run into things. You’ve got to take a look at where you’re going, not where you’ve been.
If you try and look down at the ground right at the front of the tractor, it’s not going to work very well either. You’re going to drift back and forth as you try to make sudden corrections to your path when you see yourself moving off of the line.
In order to get the straightest path, you need to focus beyond where you’re headed. You pick a point off in the distance beyond the end of your lawn and keep your focus on that. Keeping your eye on that immovable object on the horizon helps keep you from drifting or making sharp corrections for every little thing that crops up along your path.
Are you seeing the parallel yet? It really is a good illustration for life.
If you focus on the past, you’re going to drift around aimlessly never reaching any kind of destination. You’ve got to know where you’re headed. Where you’ve been really has no bearing on where you are headed.
If you focus just on the present, again, you’re going to have trouble keeping your focus. You’re going to make sudden corrections to your path, without really knowing where it is you are ultimately headed. You’ll just react to every little thing life throws at you.
Your focus obviously needs to be on your destination. This focus will help you avoid over-reacting to all the little bumps of life. Paul said in Phil 3:14, “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” He knew where he was headed and NOTHING on this earth was going to lead him off that path.
Do you have a well manicured lawn, or are you drifting around wondering where you’re headed?
Comments
2 responses to “On the Straight and Narrow”
Wait a second, does this mean you’ve had to MOW already this spring??????
Ummmmm – – – we’re still MOSTLY under snow.
LOL! No, not quite yet, but the lawn IS greening up nicely. I think I’ve got a few weeks left though before the cycle begins. In the spring I have to mow every few days. Definitely no snow in sight down our way though! It was in the 60’s yesterday. I little colder and windier today though. Nice, bright and sunny though.