Pastoral Thought--September 9

This morning, I was thinking about an encounter that I had yesterday afternoon. . . Before CNS welcomed new students into the building on Wednesday, the playground needed some attention. That very playground is something that many of our preschool parents and kids love. I have been told that it has even been the deciding factor in some families choosing to send their child to school here. 

So, as we get ready for the new year, the weeds need that have taken up residence, need to be cleaned up and sprayed. It is not a terribly hard job, but one that requires diligence. So after Rich and I talked about it, I volunteered to spray the playground because I have some extra weed killer in the garage. Rich said that he would put up the sign and we were all set. 

So, I walked over after lunch and began to spray the weeds with my new audiobook playing in my ears. There were many more weeds growing around the area than I expected (I guess I should look before I leap). But I was still happy to do it. I sprayed. . . and I sprayed. . . and I sprayed. . . and I sprayed. It took almost an hour to complete the job. I needed a second bottle of weed killer to make sure that I did the job throughly. Again, I was happy to do it. 

While I was there the lawn care company that mows the church and cemetery came and worked right alongside of me mowing and trimming the area. 

They started their work at least 90 minutes before I did. One of the workers stopped mowing and walked over toward their truck, his arms sore from the vibrations from the machinery. I taped by AirPods and the book stopped because I expected a greeting or a casual word. I was not disappointed. There, in the baking sun of a hot September afternoon, for about 5 minutes, this gentlemen and I had a nice conversation. He has an injury to his left arm that makes this work painful, but he wants to ’see the job through.’ 

Once he finished his bottle of water, and with sweat dripping off my nose and chin, we parted and began to silently work again alongside of each other. The goodness of the encounter is still with me today. 

I thought of the words of Lin Yu-t’ang where he wrote: 

“Today we are afraid of simple words like goodness and mercy and kindness. We don’t believe in the good old words because we don’t believe in the good old values anymore.” 

I wonder if today God is going to give you the chance to have a good, normal, conversation with someone? 

Will you engage them? Will you stop what you are doing and be present in their life? 

Because if you do, you might just find that God is offering you a little blessing that might just have gone unnoticed. 

Blessings

Rev. Derek