I work in Sales Enablement and I taught new hires for multiple years before moving into my current role. One of the first things I always wanted to establish with my teams was what their learning styles were. Why? Because if someone was struggling to understand a concept I was teaching, I could easily adapt that to them in a way I could help it make sense.
I love that the Lord knows me so well that he always speaks to my heart in the ways that make the most sense. I’m a hands on learner meaning I need to DO something to learn it easily. However, I’m complex and also do well with visuals that I can conceptualize.
So often, the Lord ministers to me when I’m completing tasks that he can draw parallels to for me (I’m working with my hands AND I get a visual) and each time he does it, I’m so overwhelmed with gratitude.
Today I was out mowing my yard. I have a rather large yard that is (mostly) flat and I have a self-propelled lawn mower. The first time I mowed here, I learned the areas that are wettest in my yard, the areas that have hidden rocks or holes, the areas where there are many difficult navigations needed.
Now, in those areas I know I might have to make the blade higher or lower in order to be efficient in cutting the grass and also in order not to stall the engine. I also know that these areas do NOT work well with the self-propelled function and are going to take a little more “umph” from my body manually in order to get all of the grass taken care of.
I’m the type of person that will 100% do the hardest task on my list first and get it over with. So I started with the side of my yard I knew would be like a swamp and very dense so I could knock it out before I moved to the part of my yard I could lower the blade.
Here I am, mowing my yard and knocking out some of these hardest pieces and my super sweet neighbor texted to see if I wanted them to come over with their riding mower and knock out the biggest part of my yard for me. I responded that I appreciated them but I really like the exercise (which is 100% accurate) and the Lord started to speak to me about how I don’t let people love me. My love language is acts of service. Which means that when I won’t let people do things for me, I’m refusing to let them demonstrate love to me. Granted, my neighbor doesn’t know that about me and was just offering out of the kindness of their hearts (and I’m thankful cause we all need kind folks surrounding us).
I kept mowing and the Lord continued to lay out more visuals about mowing my yard and our lives spiritually. We go through so many seasons in lives. Some areas will have swampy areas and we’re carrying pieces that weigh us down and trying to navigate. We can’t “self-propel” through these seasons because they take more of a manual commitment. We have to tread carefully and we have to keep ourselves on our path steadily knowing this part doesn’t last forever. We have to dig in with the tools we have (prayer, the Bible, fasting, worship, etc).
Some seasons are flat and easy. We can go into auto-pilot. We can turn that self-propelled function on and allow the Holy Spirit to just push on with us.
Some seasons are rocky and there are holes hidden everywhere that serve no purpose but to trip or injure us if we don’t acknowledge them and keep our focus on the Lord ahead where it belongs. We have to be vigilant with our wits about us as we tread carefully and use wisdom and discernment (that only comes from the Lord) to navigate these areas carefully.
I was self-propelling along on a fairly flat area and the bag that collects the grass had gotten pretty full so I stopped to empty it into a landscaping bag. When I got back to my mower and reattached the bag and I started my mower again and got back to it, I thought “oh my goodness, I didn’t realize how heavy that full bag was on this flat part” and the Holy Spirit reminded me that even in the “self-propelled” areas, when we allow ourselves to continue carrying the baggage that isn’t FOR us to carry, the things that have been meant for discard…we don’t even realize how heavy that is and the impact it’s having…until we lay it down and allow him to dispose of it.
Lastly, I was mowing through the TONS of dandelions in my yard (seriously, there are so many and they’ll pop back up in just a day to two) and thinking of those weeds being annoying. The Lord reminded me that those weeds are a huge help to the pollinators right now when not everything has bloomed. That they serve a purpose in some seasons. That there are seeds being planted and spread wide with those dandelions (usefulness in both forms of their life cycle).
Leave it to the Lord to take a manual task I’m doing and give me so many things to think about.
Lord, help me to be mindful of my season, of allowing others to love me, of accepting those pieces, of seeds I’m carrying that need planting, to always see the beauty in each of these seasons, and above all to align myself to your heart and your direction at all times.
♥️
Just Between Me & Jesus 