Lessons From The Weed-Whacking Incident
Friday night, I decided that it was a good time to get the weed-whacker out of the shed. I like cutting the grass and working in the yard, but there’s one thing that I don’t like about yard work. I can’t stand weed-whacking! With my kids growing up and becoming more responsible, they have taken over the bulk of the lawn mowing job. For some reason though, the weed-whacking is almost always left for me.
Everyone knows that it’s important to wear long pants, gloves, and eye protection when operating the weed-whacker. Right? You’d think I would have learned by now. For some reason, I did not put safety glasses on when I started weed-whacking. I did a great job avoiding the flying debris that was kicked up by the rapidly rotating trim line. I was making great progress when I ventured over to a small “flower bed” that is home to three forsythia bushes. As I was weed-whacking around the bushes, I suddenly poked myself in the eye with one of branches from a forsythia bush. It was so quick and painful. I was convinced I had done major damage to my eye.
I gently turned the weed-whacker off and put it down. After standing around in hopes that it would feel better after a few minutes, I decided I should try to make my way into the house to clean out my eye. I washed it out over and over again, but it still felt awful. I could see, but my vision was pretty blurry. What was I thinking? Needless to say, I was frustrated by my lack of precaution, and I was concerned that I may have caused permanent damage to my eyesight.
Saturday morning, my vision was still blurry and my eye was still pretty sore. As the day progressed, my vision and my eye seemed to be getting better. Sunday was much better, and I’m happy to say that I’m okay now a few days later.
My Friday night run in with the forsythia bush reminded me of the need for safety, and it also got me thinking about a verse from the book of Matthew:
“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” Matthew 7:3-5
You see, I’m the one who usually gives my kids (and others) advice on being safe. And in the rest of life, I’m quick to judge others for the faults and failings. We live in a world today where so many people are quick to blame others and to point out the problems that others have.
Perhaps, we owe ourselves and others a better response. Here are a couple of ideas:
- We need to look in the mirror. Before we start playing the blame game, we need to deal with our own failings. I’m not talking about beating ourselves up. I’m simply suggesting we tackle our own issues before we go pointing out the errors of others.
- Respond with love. Instead of being judgmental, let’s find ways to be helpful. In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul reminds us that “love keeps no record of wrongs.” Instead, it hopes and endures.
- Look to Christ. I know it’s cliche to say, “What would Jesus do?”, but this gets back to my previous point. When we follow Christ, we treat others in the way we wish to be treated. We sacrifice our own interests for the interests of others. Plus, I think He’ll help us deal with our own failings.
I’m thankful for the lessons from my weed-whacking incident. And you can bet that I’ll be wearing safety glasses the next time around.
What lessons have you learned from working around your house?