Since we bought our first house last year, I have found awakened inside me a need I didn’t know I had: to keep a well tended yard. Having two little kids really isn’t conducive to that, so our yards have languished quite a bit. Our flowerbeds are overgrown with weeds, and I know I can’t get it all nice right away. The lawns, however, are something I feel I know how to do and something I’ve really tried to work on. After a few weeks of not mowing (turns out you don’t have to when you under water), I mowed the lawns this week. Quite a few dandelions had taken root, which I spent some time picking out. I know it’s not perfect, but it’s an improvement, and I know that next week there will be less weeds for me to pull, in the lawn at least.
That brings me to this Sunday. I was walking home early from Church to give my daughter a nap. It’s a short walk, and it was a beautiful day. The neighborhood was quiet, and my daughter was rather drowsy, so I was pretty much alone with my thoughts. Along the way I passed several houses, all with different kinds of lawns. Some were immaculately kept, not a weed or dandelion in sight. Each blade of grass was uniform in length, indicating they had recently been cut. Looking over these lawns, I could see that every blade of grass was also the exact same species of plant. These lawns were very nice, to be sure. Other lawns had the occasional weed or dandelion, or areas where different kinds of grass had taken root. Some had not been cut as recently as others. For the briefest moment, I found myself comparing the different lawns, and assigning some sort of value based on how well they appeared to be tended. The hypocrisy very quickly struck me, and I quickly abandoned that line of thinking.
How often are we comparing spiritual lawns? How easy is it to judge someone because they are not like you, or are at a different place in their spiritual progression? I’ve had several impressions as I work in my yard telling me that, just as every weed cannot be eradicated at once, so too I cannot become perfect overnight. I have to keep working, and my continual working and praying and repenting will eventually help me to become more like the man my Father in Heaven wants me to be. While I’m focusing on becoming a better person, I will see others walking their own paths, with their own unique struggles. I believe that discipleship requires me to have patience and not judge those around me, just as I hope they will have patience and not judge me.