The day I turned twelve I was informed by my father of three new rules:
1. You are to do your own laundry.
2. You are no longer allowed to trick-or-treat.
3. You are in charge of mowing the lawn both front and back; you are also to mow your grandfathers lawn.
My father really knows his scriptures. There were many times I found myself the subject of his correction as he said to me, “son, O be wise, what can I say more?”
Or, “Hayden, if ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.”
But there was one scripture that-- I dont know if its his favorite scripture or what-- but I heard it all the time. Every time I would do something dumb my father would flip open to the bible in his head and say:
“When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” (1 corinthians 13:11)
This would then be followed by a “grow up” or “it’s time to put away childish things”
I was assigned to be the family landscaper, I was expected to keep our grass looking like it had just been vacuumed. In order to cut our lawn I had to check the mower and trimmer, add gas or re-string the machines, edge, mow, bag, dump, and sweep.
If you know much about the way grass grows, or have had any experience in landscaping, you will know that you can’t cut the grass the same direction each week; because, you see, the grass bends and folds and if you keep cutting it the same way it will start to grow that way. But we want it to grow straight up. So on top of all of these tasks, I had to remember which way I had cut the grass the week previous.
For years I dreaded saturdays. Because I hated mowing the lawn. I hated the grass. I hated every single, solitary blade of grass that I was inevitably going to have to cut. Over the years as I did my job, I realized that even though I really disliked doing the work, I loved how the lawn looked when I was done. I started to have great joy in walking over the freshly zamboni’d carpet of semi-green grass, and I loved being able to use it.
One day, with the previously mentioned scripture in mind, I came to my mother. I was maybe 17 and had just finished the lawn. I walked in and said “Mom, today I became a man.”
“Oh, really?” She replied, trying- and failing- to hide the laughter behind her eyeballs.
“How so?” she added.
“Mom, you become a man when you start caring what your lawn looks like.”
And she did exactly that! She laughed just like you did! But I didn’t care because, I was a man.
I had had a great change of heart. I had learned how to love what I was doing and that to be converted is to do. I could have said I have a testimony of mowing the lawn, but that wouldn’t mean that the lawn actually gets mowed. Because testimony is knowing and feeling. Conversion is doing and becoming.
I also learned is the value of working hard. I learned that when you work hard, it gives you more options, more freedom. Everyone says they want to be free. But if you take a train off it’s tracks, it’s free, but can it go anywhere? No. I learned that staying on the path will lead me to the destination that I want. And it will give me more options in the long run.
So do the things you have to do when you have to do them, so you can do the things you want to do when you want to do them. Be phenomenal or be forgotten.
