The Writing in the Yard

My grandmother had an odd sort of backyard.  There was what we referred to as the backyard which was just off the patio, kind of smallish, and home to a giant pecan tree.  Then, there was a brick flower bed that separated the backyard from what we called the backbackyard.  The backbackyard was huge.  Mam-ma, my grandmother, once hired a neighborhood grass-cutting young man to cut the yard – front, back, and backback.  I sat at the table and watched through the kitchen window while he worked.  When he started on the backbackyard, I was in awe.  With his lawn mower, he cut his name in the grass.  There it was, big as life, and in lawn mower script – Bo.  Then he started cutting the grass the proper way – but it was too late.  His name was there even when he finished all the up and down, straight row cutting.  I thought he was quite creative and considered asking him to write my name.  I’m glad I didn’t.  My grandmother was less than impressed with his lawn art and never hired him again.  A year down the road, I learned another important lesson about writing your name where you really should not.  Here it is:  if you write your name in paint on your wall, it will still show when you paint over it.  That’s all I want to say about that. 

There are some things that you just can’t hide.  The name written in the yard lasted through another round of grass cutting.  My grandmother was a little afraid that it would never go away!  Our lives are like that, too.  We mess up.  We make mistakes.  We sin.  And even after we recognize what we’ve done wrong, the consequences are there.  We can still see the results of what we have done.  God, in His infinite mercy, has a plan to fix it when we write where we should not.  He loves us. He forgives us.  We just have to ask Him.  He is always willing and always waiting for us to come to Him.  And then we are forgiven – the sin is gone – the slate is wiped clean.

Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out,¹ that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.  Acts 3:19

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9