Keep your eyes fixed!

I admit it....in my 60 years, I don't have much experience with lawn mowing. Grass cutting. Or whatever words you use to describe that process of hauling out the lawn mower and keeping your grass under control and your yard presentable. Growing up, I had a dad who was wonderful at anything which involved a yard and working outside. Then I had a husband, who also really enjoyed spending a lot of time on our yard, making it look nice. And then we had two sons. My areas of expertise have always been pretty much indoors.

Three years ago this month (we had two years in a row where June was a very difficult month for us), my husband underwent a total knee replacement, after which he had about every complication possible including a second hospitalization, and which ultimately was not successful.

Tomorrow, with a different surgeon and in a different hospital, he will be admitted and undergo a re-do of that surgery. I have been struggling with considerable anxiety and fear, for a number of reasons. The memories of three years ago are still too vivid, and the outcome is so uncertain. The doctor doesn't know exactly what is going to need to be done, we don't know how long the hospital stay will last, or how long my husband will need to be off work.

So I have been focusing on the One who does know all of these things, because it was in his plan for us from eternity past. He knows the outcome. I remember the word I chose for this year, which is "intentional" and I am choosing to be intentional about trusting the Lord. Isaiah 26:3 says that the Lord will keep in perfect peace the one who stays his mind on Him, because He trusts in Him. The phrase "perfect peace" actually means a double portion of peace. And verse 4 continues the thought - "Trust in the Lord forever, for in the Lord God is everlasting strength."

Which brings me back to the lawn mowing. Like I did 3 years ago when my husband had surgery, I am taking over the lawn mowing. Only the lawn of this house that we are living in (which is a rental house and in a wooded area) is much harder to mow than our lawn in Williamsburg. In Williamsburg our grass was beautiful, thick and lush. It was easy to see where you were cutting and where you had been.

The grass of this house is made up of, to sum it up, mostly weeds. It is very thin and interspersed with moss and weeds and all kinds of things, and that makes it very difficult to cut. I couldn't actually tell what I had already cut and where I needed to go. The path I needed to take was very unclear. I found that when I didn't try to look back where I had already been, or around at the whole yard, but kept my eyes straight ahead on the path I was cutting in front of me, the job was easier. I couldn't see the path clearly while I was mowing, but when I was finished and looked at the whole yard, it was good.

Psalm 16:8 - "I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand I shall not be shaken." The Psalmist understood the secret of keeping your eyes fixed. I know I'm not the only one who is walking an unclear path right now. If you are, can you choose to be intentional about trusting the One who knows your path?