Mowing a Straight Line

 

My front yard is on a hill and a little difficult to mow.  For years, I had a push mower … operated by my son.  But when John graduated from high school and moved out of the house, I got a riding mower.  I always mow across the hill making it easier to mow.  But after I finish mowing across, I start at the bottom of the hill beside our mailbox and mow diagonally uphill.  Once uphill, I turn and mow downhill next to my first swath.  The grass stragglers left behind by the across-the-hill cutting are trimmed leaving my front yard looking like a well-manicured baseball outfield.  But that first cut starting beside the mailbox must be absolutely straight because the subsequent cuts key off of that first cut.  So, when I start that first cut, I look to the far side of the yard and focus my eyes on the downspout on the corner of my house.  As I mow, I don’t look at the ground; I don’t look behind; I look straight ahead and keep the nose of my riding mower aimed at that downspout.  I constantly recorrect my mower as it bounces left and right mowing straight toward that downspout.  And when I make my turn. I discover that the first strip is as straight as an arrow!  The apostle Paul did what I did: Philippians 3:13&14, “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”  Hey, let’s focus on the Lord Jesus Christ.  Let’s keep our eyes upon Him.  And if we do, when our life is over and we look back upon our days, everything will be just right.  Yes, it will.