Keeping Track of the Edges
July 31, 2008
By Scott Harrup
With record rainfall lately, it’s been a challenge to keep
my yard mowed. Even a weekly journey across the green is stretching the limits
of acceptability. Every 1.7 days would be better, but who has that kind of
time? So this was not a good year for my weed trimmer to go on the fritz.
It had served me faithfully for 20 years. But the last time
I took it into a local shop, the technician told me it wouldn’t be worth
another attempt at repairs the next time it died.
“Just run it into the ground,” he advised.
Over the past several mowing seasons, I did just that. This
spring it refused to start.
You know how one “to do” on your list can just hang there?
Everything else is stacking up, you barely have time to do the necessities, and
that nagging item remains in limbo? That was the case with my weed whacker. I
figured I’d replace the spark plug, in case the repair was that simple. But the
next weekly mowing session would roll around and I still had not gone out and
bought that plug.
Ever tried to “edge” a yard with garden sheers? There are
probably Tibetan monks who would find some sort of meditative benefit in such a
project. I just got a sore back. And the yard began to look really scraggly
around the perimeter.
All the while, the old trimmer lay on the garage floor, the
blackened plug sitting in a wad of paper towel next to it. Finally, one
Saturday, with another mowing session ahead of me, I went to the local auto
parts store and bought a replacement plug. The result? Not even a sputter.
I did what millions of hardy, self-reliant homeowners do
when a vital piece of equipment needs skilled mechanical attention. I went to
Wal-Mart and looked for the most reasonable replacement I could find.
Bliss.
Until I got that trimmer, it didn’t matter if I had cut my
grass every day. The shoddy edges ruined the rest of the yard.
And that has me thinking about anything on the “edges” of my
life that might be ruining a lot of hard work in other areas.
“A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough”
(Galatians 5:9, NIV).
— Scott Harrup is senior associate editor of Today’s
Pentecostal Evangel and blogs at Out There (sharrup.agblogger.org).
