God Cares for His Lawn

The lawns require grooming again in the “Blue Grass” State. Winter has given way to spring. Summer is calling and so are the weeds in the flower beds. They must be pulled and the shrubs must be humbled back into their proper shape and size. So it goes for any person who dares care to keep a presentable property in these parts.

There are some who love to do this work. There are many who do not. Some have the means to get others to do it and so avoid it. But whether you love it or hate it, the work must be done. Each week the weed eater along with either a push or ride mower must be maneuvered throughout the grass to give the lawn a manicured look.

The teacher of Ecclesiastes tells us,

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

This is not a pronouncement for moral relativism nor is it a call for us to shape our time according to our desires. It is a mere statement of fact. Seasons, emotions, life, resources, and jobs all come and go. But in a display of His power and grace, God “has made everything beautiful in its time” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

And so, like time, we experience change, but God in His power and grace makes us beautiful in time. He takes a life that was cold and dormant in a spiritual winter and brings it to life in a resurrection of spring. He does not let that life grow wild and unkept. “He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful” (John 15.2).

If you have been made alive in Christ, do not be surprised to see the great Gardener put to use His mower and other tools in your life. He will cut you. He will pull out the weeds in your life. He will allow the seasons to come and go. But never forget that He is clipping us to form us into a masterpiece. “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10).