One Leaf At a Time

Several times during the week I pass this certain house, located about a mile from my own. During the fall season I always get a kick out of this older couple that lives there. They are outside not just raking their leaves but they are down on their hands and knees with a plastic bag and picking up every single leaf.

And when I say every single leaf, I mean every single leaf. They apparently are very particular about their lawn. Now our family…I don’t think we have ever raked our leaves. We prefer to mow right through them. It’s not that I don’t care about my lawn. It’s just that I don’t care that much.

For some reason, this reminded me of our lives…the care we give to the lawns of our lives. Think about those areas in your life that you struggle with. Perhaps you have struggled for years. Are you like my family? Why bother getting rid of it? Just mow over it instead?

The problem is that although you do make the leaves less noticeable, they don’t completely disappear. In fact, now you have cut them into so many pieces that they spread further. Sin mowed over won’t disappear. It will only spread. There will always be a reminder of it, too.

For instance, I would bet that some of the leaves stuck in our bushes are not from this year; they are probably from last year. There is no way to completely get rid of them if we don’t rake and only mow over some of them.

But that couple at that other house…down on their hands and knees. They have taken the time and care to make their lawn look the way it does. Can you imagine how differently our lives would look if we paid that much attention to our sin and meticulously got rid of it?

I can tell you that what they do is hard work. It takes time and dedication. What we do takes no effort. It is just easier and shows our lack of enthusiasm for yard work. Yes, no matter what time of year you visit our home, you are bound to see a few leaves. But that is not the way the Lord wants us to live our lives. He wants us to get down on our knees and begin to clean things up, one leaf at a time.