Chopped Grass Trespasses

I learned to drive by mowing the grass.

My brother and I each spent countless hours on riding lawnmowers growing up. Living in the church parsonage, we had a very large yard to mow, so one of us would take the front and back of the house while the other would take the side field where we played football. I’m not sure what my brother listened to or thought about while he mowed, but I know that I listened to mix-tapes on my walkman and sang loudly enough to be heard over the roar of both mowers. Not very good for my vocal chords, I know.

Until today, though, I hadn’t mowed the grass in years. I don’t know what came over me, but I saw the lawnmower sitting just beyond the porch and declared to my mom, “I think I’ll surprise dad and mow the grass today.” At first, I wasn’t sure that I knew how to start the lawnmower because it wasn’t the one I drove growing up, but my lawn-mowing instincts quickly kicked in and before I knew it I was off and mowing.

While I mowed, I thought about “The Lord’s Prayer.” I thought about the line, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us,” and I thought, “If there is nothing we can or cannot do to earn more of God’s love or forgiveness, and if we ask God to forgive us in proportion to the forgiveness that we extend to others, then what we are really saying is, ‘Thank you for forgiving us and help us to understand more of that forgiveness as we understand more of how to forgive others as we forgive ourselves as understand more of You.’ Or. We can only know God to the extent that we love others and we can only love others to extent that we know God.”

I’m having trouble explaining this one, but it makes sense in my mind…especially in regard to what I’ve seen on the popular TV show “Chopped.” There are basically two kinds of persons on “Chopped.” There are those who are competitive, arrogant, and bitter when they lose and there are those who are there to do their best and are thankful for the experience whether they win or lose. The former seem incapable of true, deep happiness while the latter do seem capable of receiving it. No matter what happens to the former, they cannot feel anything other than what they’ve allow themselves to feel—which is that life is out to get them—while the latter can feel more deeply because they’ve allowed themselves to come to a deeper place of peace. Some people can experience more of God’s forgiveness because they’ve allowed themselves to experience more forgiveness on this earth…yet no forgiveness is possible without God’s forgiveness in the first place.

Again. I’m having trouble explaining this, but it makes sense in my mind. But it also makes my mind hurt, which is why I moved from thinking about it to listening to Harry Potter. I listened to one and a half discs before finishing the yard. I felt deep anger toward Professor Umbridge and the Ministry of Magic and the hurtful impact of lies and fear and then I came inside to shower so that I could go to a senior adult meeting with my mom to teach about none other than “The Lord’s Prayer.”

I drove to the meeting. The ride in the car was much smoother than my laps around the yard on the lawnmower. But I’m glad for today’s return to my first type of driving machine and the reminder of all that it taught me…even with the large scrape that I currently have on my leg from a brief encounter with a tree.