Small Wins

I mowed a lawn for the first time ever today. Some might say that’s ridiculous. How could I have possibly made it over 50 years without ever having mown a lawn? It’s not that I’m incapable of mowing a lawn, I’ve done much harder chores in my life, but the fact is I’ve just never had to. I always had a husband, and now sons, who’ve done it and whenever I’ve even mentioned doing it myself, they’ve always insisted that I don’t. They tell me they want to do it for me and so it’s just never been a necessity. Until today.

My youngest son has been mowing my yard consistently for the last 3 years and is always more than happy to do so, but due to some unforeseen circumstances, he wasn’t able to make it home this weekend. I’ve been a bit worried we were becoming an irritant to our neighborhood with our foot high, chicken-feet weeds and so I decided it was high-time I did it myself. Oh sure, I could have asked my middle son to do it for me and he would have been over here in a heartbeat, but something inside me made me want to get out there and just do it. So I did. And I did quite a fine job if I do say so myself. We won’t talk about the fact that my front yard is about the size of a postage stamp, or that we have a battery operated lawn mower that is super lightweight and doesn’t have to be pull-started, or that I may not have done it in neat little rows but rather a sort of odd, zig-zag pattern and might have missed a few spots; no, none of that is worth mentioning. But what we WILL talk about is the fact that I just mowed a lawn for the first time ever. By myself.

I needed that win today. Even though it’s just a tiny little accomplishment, I needed it. There are some days in the life of a widow where clinging to even small wins can give you the courage to do the bigger things. Those small things remind you that when faced with the big things, you will be given what you need to accomplish the task at hand. Who knew mowing such a small little yard could bring about such big encouragement. Thank you, Jesus, for using things like weeds and lawnmowers to remind us of your love and care.

Sitting in the tension of small wins overshadowing big difficulties.