David’s Blog

The other day while stopped at a red light I watched a lawn technician blow grass clippings from  the curb into the middle of the intersection. He actually pointed the nozzle at the curb and directed the grass away from the median, pausing only when cars were near.

Then while driving down a different street I witnessed another with a pack on his back blowing grass from the curb into the street. It strikes me as particularly useless, most likely in a few hours those grass clippings will be “blown” right back to the curb or simply scattered by the wind or by the breeze from a passing vehicle. Or maybe a shower will wash them somewhere new…

I guess it is another convenience of our culture? Mow the grass, get it done, without stopping to empty a bag of clippings. Then blow them away from out of the yard and somewhere else, out of sight out of mind…

We do that a lot with our lives, throw a bunch of energy at something and hope it works out or blow a bunch of money on a project and hope that blinds observers to a flaw. Maybe worse, we stack our schedule full of activity so that we can ignore the “heart” stuff and hope it goes away. Grass clippings aren’t so destructive but sin can be, relational issues won’t be easily swept away and other nagging shortcomings are weightier than dried, withered debris.

We need to take the time to deal with our lives. Periods of quiet and confession are valuable commodities. Seek out and create accountability with someone you know and trust. Whatever the plan, it shouldn’t be random. Don’t blow it.

That has been happening every morning for over a month this spring. We were startled by those sounds coming from our living room finally we homed in on one of the windows looking out on the backyard. Peck, peck, thump. Peeking around the curtain we found the culprit, a bright red cardinal. I’ve read that often this time of the year brings out that “male spirit” to protect their turf. Evidently it saw its reflection and thought there was an interloper moving in…

It made me think about why this little bird is attacking its reflection. He is trying to protect his stuff yet his own image is the “enemy,” unless I have to get the BB gun after him for waking us up too early on Saturdays…

How well do we know ourselves? Do we know that we are the “enemy” at times, too? Andy Stanley reminds us in The Best Question Ever that we are good at self deception, really good. Our heart is deceitful according to the book of Jeremiah. How serious do we  take that threat? It is important to take inventory of ourselves and find accountability to just in case there is a “blind” spot or mistaken reflection…

Hopefully this bird will realize he’s the problem and a part of the solution before it gets out of hand.