Several weeks ago, I shared a blog post about mowing the grass and losing, then finding, the key to the lawnmower along the way. I am happy to report that I have managed not to lose the key again since then. But lawnmower owners periodically face other setbacks as well. Allow me to elaborate.
I am blessed to have a wife who actually likes to cut grass. So much so, that, if I cut the grass in her absence, she genuinely gets upset. So, in our retirement years, we have developed somewhat of a division of labor, as it were. We share indoor chores such as laundry and dishes. In turn, we also share outdoor chores, such as mowing and property maintenance.
Our usual pattern is for both of us to get on a riding mower and attack the yard. She cuts the front yard and a patch of grass across the creek. I cut the back yard and the open areas in and among our fruit trees in the area we call “the orchard”. We usually finish up about the same time.
She then takes the push mower and trims along the road and around the yard in the smaller places where riding mowers cannot penetrate. As she does, I fire up the trimmer and trim around the trees, bushes, fences, and outbuildings, before also edging the driveway. Once again, for the most part, we finish up about the same time, knocking the whole process out in about two and a half hours.
But not yesterday. For as I was preparing to fire up the trimmer, my wife came to me and told me that the push mower would not start. I went over to give it a try, assuming I would be able to fire it right up. I soon discovered that I could not crank it either. I simply used the trimmer to hack down the grass in those places normally cut with the push mower.
But as I slung the trimmer back and forth, I had plenty of time to ponder the matter. Each spring, I have the mowers tuned up. Compared to the riding mowers, the push mower gets relatively little use. I regularly check the oil and fill it with gas before each cutting. So, where was the problem?
And then I remembered the days of growing up on a farm. We never paid anyone to fix anything. Instead, we became master tinkerers and shade tree mechanics. In that day, if a mower would not crank, even as a boy, I knew to clean out the air filter and check the spark plug.
So, I pulled the spark plug, and soon found the problem. The electrodes were considerably corroded - so much so that the gap between the center electrode and side electrode was almost totally corroded by excessive carbon buildup.
One wire brush and two minutes later, I replaced the clean plug and pulled the starter cord and “Voila!”… the little Briggs and Stratton 3.5 horsepower engine coughed and chugged to life. It still smoked; but at least it now ran again.
This whole episode got me to thinking. In many ways, you and I are quite similar to my little lawnmower engine in that we all need air to breathe and fuel to consume. But we also need well-maintained and properly working physical frames. For lawnmowers, this includes wheels, carriages, handles, and the like. For humans, this includes our physical bodies, but also minds and our souls.
If we are not careful, we can find ourselves dirty and polluted, not just on the exterior, but also in the interior. Indeed, much is known about diet and its effect on our cardiovascular system. It behooves each of us to take the proper steps to ensure we don’t clog our arteries.
But what of our minds and souls?
How many of us exercise faithfully and take daily medicines to prevent clogged arteries, while at the same time taking precious few steps to protect what we feed our minds? More to the point, how many of us give serious thought to what all we pour into our souls?!
In all of this, I have been reminded that, periodically, I need to undergo a little cleansing myself. I’m not talking about bathing or showering. These things I undertake regularly enough.
But what about my mind? Could I stand a periodic detox here? Are there materials I read, stations I watch, websites I visit, and/or people with whom I regularly engage in conversation which I should periodically take a breather from? Might my mind benefit tremendously from such a respite?
And what of my soul? Have I inadvertently polluted it as well? Would it not benefit me to undergo a cleansing there as well? Back in the day, preachers made much ado about being “backslidden”. If you are unfamiliar with that term, it is quite biblical. The writer of Proverbs uses it, as does the Prophet Jeremiah on multiple occasions. It is based on a Hebrew word that simply means “turning back”.
I once heard an evangelist say: “If there was ever a time in your life when you were closer to God than you are right now, then you, my friend, are backslidden!”
Let’s face it. We believers do backslide. It happens. And when we do, it is for many reasons – not the least of which is because we become enamored with some other entity than our Lord to which we give our attentions. Whenever this happens, we get out of kilter and begin to feed our souls a regular diet of material we were never intended to consume.
The truth is that the spark plug in our push mower was corroded so badly because we primarily use it on a slope, which had been allowing engine oil to enter both the air filter and carburetor. The engine was not designed to combust oil, but rather gasoline. A thorough cleaning of not only the spark plug, but also the carburetor has now returned our push mower to excellent working condition.
Since then, I have addressed the problem and restored it to its former glory as it now once again fulfills the purpose for which it was designed.
Would it not behoove me to apply the same approach to my soul, which is of infinite worth compared to a silly lawnmower? Yes, my friend, it would.
In the New Testament Book of Revelation (chapter 2, verse 4), the Lord Himself spoke to us though the Apostle John when he said: “I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.” The Weymouth New Testament translates this as: “I have this against you - that you no longer love Me as you did at first.”
And so, my friend, are you in any way backslidden? If so, do you in any way need an internal cleansing in order to remove those things that now supplant and pollute your earlier commitment to, and relationship with, your personal Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ?
If so, I have good news for you. In his First New Testament Letter (chapter 1, verse 9), the Apostle John states: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
Any way you look at it, that is God’s promise to give a seriously deep cleansing to anyone who desires it enough to actually seek it!
SCRIPTURE:
https://biblehub.com/proverbs/14-14.htm;
https://biblehub.com/jeremiah/2-19.htm;
https://biblehub.com/jeremiah/8-5.htm;
https://biblehub.com/hebrew/4878.htm;
https://biblehub.com/1_john/1-9.htm.
I am blessed to have a wife who actually likes to cut grass. So much so, that, if I cut the grass in her absence, she genuinely gets upset. So, in our retirement years, we have developed somewhat of a division of labor, as it were. We share indoor chores such as laundry and dishes. In turn, we also share outdoor chores, such as mowing and property maintenance.
Our usual pattern is for both of us to get on a riding mower and attack the yard. She cuts the front yard and a patch of grass across the creek. I cut the back yard and the open areas in and among our fruit trees in the area we call “the orchard”. We usually finish up about the same time.
She then takes the push mower and trims along the road and around the yard in the smaller places where riding mowers cannot penetrate. As she does, I fire up the trimmer and trim around the trees, bushes, fences, and outbuildings, before also edging the driveway. Once again, for the most part, we finish up about the same time, knocking the whole process out in about two and a half hours.
But not yesterday. For as I was preparing to fire up the trimmer, my wife came to me and told me that the push mower would not start. I went over to give it a try, assuming I would be able to fire it right up. I soon discovered that I could not crank it either. I simply used the trimmer to hack down the grass in those places normally cut with the push mower.
But as I slung the trimmer back and forth, I had plenty of time to ponder the matter. Each spring, I have the mowers tuned up. Compared to the riding mowers, the push mower gets relatively little use. I regularly check the oil and fill it with gas before each cutting. So, where was the problem?
And then I remembered the days of growing up on a farm. We never paid anyone to fix anything. Instead, we became master tinkerers and shade tree mechanics. In that day, if a mower would not crank, even as a boy, I knew to clean out the air filter and check the spark plug.
So, I pulled the spark plug, and soon found the problem. The electrodes were considerably corroded - so much so that the gap between the center electrode and side electrode was almost totally corroded by excessive carbon buildup.
One wire brush and two minutes later, I replaced the clean plug and pulled the starter cord and “Voila!”… the little Briggs and Stratton 3.5 horsepower engine coughed and chugged to life. It still smoked; but at least it now ran again.
This whole episode got me to thinking. In many ways, you and I are quite similar to my little lawnmower engine in that we all need air to breathe and fuel to consume. But we also need well-maintained and properly working physical frames. For lawnmowers, this includes wheels, carriages, handles, and the like. For humans, this includes our physical bodies, but also minds and our souls.
If we are not careful, we can find ourselves dirty and polluted, not just on the exterior, but also in the interior. Indeed, much is known about diet and its effect on our cardiovascular system. It behooves each of us to take the proper steps to ensure we don’t clog our arteries.
But what of our minds and souls?
How many of us exercise faithfully and take daily medicines to prevent clogged arteries, while at the same time taking precious few steps to protect what we feed our minds? More to the point, how many of us give serious thought to what all we pour into our souls?!
In all of this, I have been reminded that, periodically, I need to undergo a little cleansing myself. I’m not talking about bathing or showering. These things I undertake regularly enough.
But what about my mind? Could I stand a periodic detox here? Are there materials I read, stations I watch, websites I visit, and/or people with whom I regularly engage in conversation which I should periodically take a breather from? Might my mind benefit tremendously from such a respite?
And what of my soul? Have I inadvertently polluted it as well? Would it not benefit me to undergo a cleansing there as well? Back in the day, preachers made much ado about being “backslidden”. If you are unfamiliar with that term, it is quite biblical. The writer of Proverbs uses it, as does the Prophet Jeremiah on multiple occasions. It is based on a Hebrew word that simply means “turning back”.
I once heard an evangelist say: “If there was ever a time in your life when you were closer to God than you are right now, then you, my friend, are backslidden!”
Let’s face it. We believers do backslide. It happens. And when we do, it is for many reasons – not the least of which is because we become enamored with some other entity than our Lord to which we give our attentions. Whenever this happens, we get out of kilter and begin to feed our souls a regular diet of material we were never intended to consume.
The truth is that the spark plug in our push mower was corroded so badly because we primarily use it on a slope, which had been allowing engine oil to enter both the air filter and carburetor. The engine was not designed to combust oil, but rather gasoline. A thorough cleaning of not only the spark plug, but also the carburetor has now returned our push mower to excellent working condition.
Since then, I have addressed the problem and restored it to its former glory as it now once again fulfills the purpose for which it was designed.
Would it not behoove me to apply the same approach to my soul, which is of infinite worth compared to a silly lawnmower? Yes, my friend, it would.
In the New Testament Book of Revelation (chapter 2, verse 4), the Lord Himself spoke to us though the Apostle John when he said: “I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.” The Weymouth New Testament translates this as: “I have this against you - that you no longer love Me as you did at first.”
And so, my friend, are you in any way backslidden? If so, do you in any way need an internal cleansing in order to remove those things that now supplant and pollute your earlier commitment to, and relationship with, your personal Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ?
If so, I have good news for you. In his First New Testament Letter (chapter 1, verse 9), the Apostle John states: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
Any way you look at it, that is God’s promise to give a seriously deep cleansing to anyone who desires it enough to actually seek it!
SCRIPTURE:
https://biblehub.com/proverbs/14-14.htm;
https://biblehub.com/jeremiah/2-19.htm;
https://biblehub.com/jeremiah/8-5.htm;
https://biblehub.com/hebrew/4878.htm;
https://biblehub.com/1_john/1-9.htm.