It's been a banner day. Both the new zero-turn mower and our old John Deere started right up. The far end of the field is a bumpy ride, a leftover from two summers ago when they replaced the bridge and "put the lawn back as it originally was." Not quite. I don't recall mowing over ruts and rocks before the county made a mess of the lawn while replacing the bridge. Numerous calls last year only resulted in a minimal and feeble show of fixing it. So much for returning it to original shape! But today, it's mowed, bumps and all. The big zero-turn does an admirable job, even if the unevenness of the yard means I can't crank it up full speed. I even washed and took photos of it. Linda doesn't like it; can't get the hang of the steering and the brakes being in the handles. It scares her, which means she won't use it. I don't mind mowing now that I'm retired, but she loves doing it, even if it takes her longer on the old style machines. So the big Husqvarna is for sale, less than 100 hours on it.
I cut more brush, pulled stumps, and even took time to be interviewed by a seminary student doing a research paper on Spiritualism. Living as we did for 13 years next door to, and prayer walking through the largest Spiritualist community in the world, I wouldn't call myself an expert, but I knew more than she did, so we had a good conversation and walk through the Dale.
But tonight I'm most thankful for how the Scriptures repeatedly come to life when men get together to study the Bible and pray. We've been working our way through Philippians and tonight were in the 3rd chapter. In verses 12-15, Paul says this:
I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things...
What caught my attention tonight was that last phrase, "All of us then, who are mature should take such a view of things." I asked myself what it was that we should see as Paul saw in order to be considered mature. The answer came in verse 13: "Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead..." Then I saw it: immature people allow themselves to get stuck in the past. They refuse to forget their failures, other people's sins against them, and even their own successes to which they keep returning in a vain effort to relive the glories of when they were young. Mature people let go of the past, whether it's the offenses that have been committed against them, their own weakness and failure, or the success that trap them on an endless "Groundhog Day" treadmill.
I thought of an incident that happened recently where Linda had said something to which I took offense. It wasn't a big deal, but I was having a hard time letting go of it. Tonight God shoved me and told me to stand up to the plate and be a man. Boys hold onto those minor offenses. If I want to grow into full maturity in Christ, I have to let go of the things which are behind and get my focus on the future. It helped that Linda apologized and asked forgiveness, but my letting go of the past cannot be contingent upon her choices if I am to grow in maturity. I don't always like how the Scripture brings me up short, but I am grateful tonight that it does. And just for the record, when it comes to apologizing, if we were keeping track, I would win that contest hands down; I've had much more occasion to do it than Linda.
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