Straight Rows

It seems mowing day comes too often around here as it does everywhere this time of the year. This morning Larry and I divided our portion like Abraham and Lot, we jumped on our mowers and took off. Grass flew every which way with the two of us mowing. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Larry heading for me on his mower. When Larry departs from his designated area I know he wants to tell me something. So here he came giving me hand signals like the guys who direct big planes at the airport. With much effort and hands flying I finally understood what he was trying to convey to me. He was saying, if I would pick something ahead of me and focus on it I would be able to make straight rows. He kept looking back and pointing at the wavy lines of the last row I went down. I shook my head yes to let him know I understood and went on my way. Every time we passed I repeated his hand signals to let him know I was on track, plus it was fun teasing him. Truthfully though, I struggled. I tried to look ahead at one object but I couldn’t help but watch where I was going. After all I had already made a mess of my rows so I had to stay on my crooked course. It wasn’t comfortable looking ahead and not watching where I was going. It was difficult to focus ahead because I was focusing on the mistakes I had already made.

Sometimes we set out with our eyes focused on Jesus but then we remember our sins and look down at the crooked rows of your life. We can’t help but look at things right in front of us because we lack trust to look up. Sometimes we look with regret that cripples us in our new walk. Often, even though we were miserable in our sins, it was comfortable there, and for a season, we found some happiness there. Maybe you are a new Christian that has yet to feel the joy of trusting Jesus. You might need to refocus on him daily, and trust him to guide you.

In Colossians 3:2 we see that we are to “set our minds on things above, not on earthly things”.

I love The Message version of this scripture:

Colossians 3:2

Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up and be alert to things going on around Christ, that’s where the action is. See things from His perspective.

If you look at this scripture you see that there are things we need to do. We need to “set our minds” and “look up” “be alert”, "See things" from his perspective these are action words. It’s not always easy to do this so we need to ask him to help us. Then we will see that Christ is where the action is, Christ is where we can live a victorious life.

Determined I started a brand new row, I put my eyes on the focal point ahead, I didn’t have to look down to see where I was going because I knew that if I looked forward my rows would be straight. I had to deliberately choose to focus, and not look anywhere else. I had to set my mind! It was well worth my effort as I looked back to see perfectly straight rows. Larry gave me a thumbs up as I successfully finished with my eyes on the focal point.

As we see life from God’s perspective our life will reflect the Christ. At the end of life I want to see Christ waiting with thumbs up to welcome me home and tell me "job well done".

Lord, you are my hope. Lord, I have trusted you since I was young. Psalm 71:5