For Wilshire Baptist Church
After months of prodding, I finally gave in and took my father’s lawnmower. He quit using it a couple of years ago when he hired a lawn service and it was just sitting in his garage and mine for the taking if I wanted it.
My hesitance was mostly because I didn’t want to change my routine. I’ve been using the same mower for at least 15 years. It was the cheapest of the cheap mowers from the big box store, but I’ve liked it because it’s light and easy to push around the lawn, especially in tight corners and around the edges of curved flowerbeds. It also isn’t fussy; it hardly needs oil and it starts first time every time. A couple of years ago I was mowing under some shrubs and didn’t notice until too late that the air filter unit had fallen off and I mowed over it. Rather than replace it, I duct-taped the pieces over the carburetor and kept mowing and it’s worked fine.
Dad’s mower is actually older than mine. It’s bigger and more powerful; it’s self-propelled with a wider cutting width. If I take as good care of it as he has, it could last for years and might even be the last mower I own. Still, it’s going to take time to learn its nuances and how best to push, pull and steer it around the yard. I used it for the first time on Thursday and it gave me quite a workout, more so than I wanted. But when I was done, I looked back over the yard and I couldn’t complain. It did what I wanted; it gave me a carpet of fresh cut grass.
Sunday we returned to live, on-site worship and Bible study at Wilshire for the first time in 15 months. I’ll admit I was apprehensive as we left the house because I just didn’t know what to expect or how I would feel. I had settled into a Sunday routine that had become comfortable because it had become, well, routine. But coming back Sunday was more satisfying than I expected. Most of it felt familiar – it definitely felt like church – but there are some subtle differences that accommodate continued caution about COVID-19. No doubt we’ll tweak and fine tune that through the summer as we see which way the pandemic is going. Meanwhile, some of the new ways we’ve been conducting the business of the church – from online giving to Zoom committee meetings – may be here to stay.
Sitting in church on Sunday morning, I looked down at the band-aid on my right thumb, covering the raw remains of a blister I picked up Thursday while mowing. By the time I got home from church on Sunday, I had painful red rub marks on the heels of my feet. I wore dress shoes for the first time in 15 months and I’d forgotten that I can’t wear thin black socks with those shoes. And today, I’ve got a knot in the middle of my back. It may be a delayed reaction from mowing or even from scooting and bending around in the balcony at church while serving communion.
It’ll take a little time to stretch muscles and relearn how to do these things, but that’s the way it is whether you’re going back to church or just want fresh cut grass.