Yardwork

Out this morning early to work on the yard.

Beautiful, sunny, breezy.

Winter kill in the lawn? Scatter patching with seed...enough of something in it to give each seed a screaming boost into green. Hand water. "Send the label back to Scotts for a full refund if this doesn't work." That gives me courage.

Spring pruning? Butterfly bushes "cut down to 6-8". That's what the book says. That means piles of prickly dead stuff 5 feet tall.

Tree suckers? Pull back the surface roots and prune them. And don't cut the watering lines.

Weeds? Remove them getting the roots fully. (Just don't like all those chemicals.)

Mulch? Stir it and turn it over...getting close to needing another truck full. "Monkey mulch" they call it..named after what you look like as you deal with it.

Tree shaping? Remove trunk startups, awkward branches.

So I am sitting under a tree working on the suckers, getting a bit moist where my hm,hm meets the ground..and thinking about how life has become so much less professional, punctual, dressy, clean-handed, manoevering, influencing, controlling, running...just sitting under a tree with suckers, interfacing with stuff, hands dirty, mind loping across the creative order (and disorder) around me.

And it suddenly comes to me that this was the biggest portion of Jesus' life. Oh, it was wood and primitive tools...an axe, a rough saw driven by hand, a chisel to fit, and dirty hands..and sweat.

Well now, I am not trying to baptize my life. And, I'm not suggesting we all quit work...but I am suggesting that this weekend when you get outside, remind yourself that Jesus relates a lot better to what is going on out there than we often think. In fact you just might "hear" the sound of hammer on chisel and the soft movement of sandaled feet.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend.

And thank You, Jesus, for Your life, and for those whose memories and lives we cherish at this time.