I was talking to my cousin the other day and telling her how I had cut our lawn for the first time since we lived here because Mike was out of town for the week.  Mike is more than kind of persnickety about his lawn and prefers I not do it…which is perfectly fine with me because it is one less thing on my plate. 

Anyways, I was telling my cousin about how Mike would HATE to see my mowing lines in the yard because I am all over the place.  She laughed and told me her philosophy on mowing lawn.  She said, “The lawn is like a mullet, nice and put together in the front, and a little crazy in the back.” 

Now if that doesn’t make you smile, I don’t know what will.  😊

So…I had the opportunity to mow the lawn again while Mike was out of town for another week.  Hahaha!  I loved mowing the lawn this time!  I smiled the whole time and am still smiling as I write this!  Mike even mentioned just now that “You are having too much fun with that.”

The thing is…I can’t even give our yard a mullet…I don’t have the patience.  When he came home I told him I gave our yard bangs.  Lol!  He rolled his eyes!

So…What does this have to do with God?

Well, as I made circles in the yard and thought about giving the yard bangs, I thought about how our lives are a lot like the yard.  We like to give off this impression that we have things all put together…we like for people to think we have a crew cut.  I mean, you look at social media and we share our best family photos, pictures of our house when it is clean, and even pictures of the elegant food that we eat, but what is behind the camera lens?  What is in the back yard?

If we are honest at all, our back yards are a little crazy.  We have a mess on the kitchen counter where everything seems to land, our families don’t all get along, we have money concerns, health issues, work problems, and don’t even get me started on influences from society.  OH MY!  I think my mullet backyard just became a rat’s nest.  Next time I mow our lawn may not even have bangs. 

But yes, I can hear some of you who are like my husband groaning because you like the yard to be all put together.  And you know what?  That is ok too…because really with God our lives are put together.  I mean honestly, all of the things that make our lives crazy are in God’s hands and He has overcome it all.  That doesn’t mean that our lives here on earth are going to be easy, we all know that is not the case, but it means that in the end our faith in Jesus as our Savior will make us whole.  Jesus fixed it all so that for the rest of our eternity, life with Him in heaven will be good.  And well, the knowledge of that makes life here on earth good as well. 

So the next time you are looking at your crazy mullet of a back yard, or even at the fact that you have only got bangs, remember that God has fixed all the crazy and you will have your crew cut someday.  And when someone asks how you are, you can truly say “fine” because you are fine in Christ.

But don’t forget that we are a family in Christ and are here to support one another as well, so if you aren’t fine and you need to show the messy side so you can get the support you need…well your Christian family is here for you!  Our job is not to judge your rat nest of a mullet, our job as a family of God is to meet you where you are and help you through it.

God be with you in all of your lawn styles of life!

Deaconess Jessica Feldmann