Wednesday, June 29, 2005

Mowing & Shaving


"Then we reel out love's long line alone toward a God less loveable than a grasshead, who treats us less well than we treat our lawns."--Annie Dillard Holy the Firm
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We go through it at least once per year, sometimes more. Heat. Very hot, suffocating heat. The sort of heat that causes one to sweat even when standing still.

Heat so hot even the breezes sweat,
Hot so hot even dry is wet.

That sort of heat. I'm sitting in a snowstorm in my study. It melts into rain; vanishes into steam. Humidity is on the rise and there appears not to be a cloud in the sky.

Chicago, a place where I am not, is suffering too. A report from San Antonio, Texas, reported that Chicago residents are 'suffering' through another day in the mid-90s. The article then goes on to remind the reader of the 'killer heat wave' that claimed more than 600 lives in the mid-90s. (I'll bet most who suffer are in their mid-90's.) Then, as if the sun were not in the cloudless sky, the article reminds us, "Chicago has had five warnings for unhealthy levels of ground ozone pollution since June 20." Seems fair: Clean up or you will have more dead citizens on your hands.

Seems fair enough, right? Ground ozone pollutants. Warnings. Ignorings. Death. It seems a simple path. But here is what is profoundly interesting, the next paragraph: "Residents were asked to restrict driving and lawn mowing although the drought has turned many lawns and city parks brown." Maybe all of us should all be in politics; this can't be made up, it must have come from a politician. Or maybe we should all become writers for the press because who would not want this essay on their resume? (If you care, http://www.woai.com/news/national/story.aspx?content_id=02FB7187-81B9-42C5-99BF-58DD96746878)

I know the first thing I think about doing when the heat index rises is going to the shed and breaking out the mower. Do they even have grass in Chicago? I wonder if the grass at Wrigley Field or Comiskey Park is brown or if the Cubs or White Sox players will skip showers after their games tonight? Are fish being asked to cut back on their intake?

This has nothing to do with the sun. I'm concerned about cutting grass or mowing lawns, and even that depends on which side of Chicago you happen to hail from.

_______________________

"All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass whithers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever."--1 Peter 1:24-25

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Grass is doomed to sun stroke or blade stroke, but either way it is doomed.

We practice mowing down all our lives. It starts when we are young. One of my sons asked just the other day, "Dad, how old do we have to be before we start shaving?" Once you start, you never stop. I remember the first time I was asked to cut grass. The grass has not stopped growing and I have not stopped mowing. I shave every day.

Every year, I suppose in an effort to make shaving a more erotic experience, razor companies add blades to their disposable skin-scraping devices. They say it is to make our skin feel smoother. Why not take off our faces? One blade used to do the job, but now it will not. Then if you had two blades you were considered wealthy. Three blades, now four blades; how long before there are five? And yet if you go to a barber, he still takes out one long blade, sharpened on a leather strap, and scrapes it across the fully exposed face and neck of a very trustworthy man.

Grass has always needed cutting. People used to have goats and cows. Now we live in suburbs and need fancy lawn mowers. And there is no room for those old push mowers that consist of exposed curved blades rotating around a hub. No longer. Now mowers are self-motivating and hardly have to be touched. I have even seen mowers that are mere robots. Turn them on and they go--cutting grass all day long without so much as a drink.

Then there are riding mowers and electric razors. Why has no one invented the riding razor? It won’t be long.

We are like grass. Maybe some cosmic razor is scraping across the earth today. Maybe the grass needs cutting or mowing. Maybe we simply don't want to admit it.

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If we are like grass standing in the sun, at the mercy of powerful steel blades, where is the best place to be, to grow? Nestled around a comfortable rock? Right out in the great wide open? Hidden under a short tree where there is shade and protection? Growing out the side of a cliff, precariously, over a fast flowing creek? Where is the best place, as grass, to embrace the struggle? If I care for my lawn, does God care any less for His?

The grass never complains. It just keeps on growing. And for as much as I have shaved over the course of my 35 years, my face is still here. I have not managed to scrape it away entirely.

In the Backyard


I found this happy chap standing nicely, proudly, in the backyard of a friend's house. It looked wonderful, standing in the sun, not sweating. I wonder if toads really rest their feet on these beauties. I would.

Saturday, June 25, 2005

Cecropia Moths in the yard


Friends,

These gorgeous creatures were photographed outside my house. Cecropia moths are seen here. I read somewhere that the only purpose the adult serves is to mate and lay eggs. That is to say, they cannot even eat and, worse, do not even have an apparatus with which to eat. It looks like I caught them at just the right time. I feel blessed beyond reason that these two creatures chose my 'hotel' (read: Backyard) with which to fulfill their purpose in life. What beautiful, magnificent creatures these are!

Jerry

Red Bird House

Friends,

Now that I have figured out how to post pictures I will be having too much fun. Here is a shot I took with my digital camera. The picture was taken at my Mom and Dad's house. The bird is roosting on a small birdhouse that my sons and I made for my mom two Christmases ago. I wish I could take clearer photos, but I'm just learning to appreciate what to snap and when. Later I'll learn how.

Jerry

Blue Butterfly


Friends,

Here is a picture I took this spring of a Blue Butterfly. It was resting thoughtfully on the ground in my backyard. This is one of several shots that I took of this glorious creature.

Jerry

Out and About

Friends,

I've not posted for a while, but I will hopefully have some more time in the coming days. I have not forgotten; I have been reading. If you get the chance check out Eugene Peterson's newest book (2005) Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places. It is worth the money and the time. Also, a classic Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard should be required reading.

I spent some time watching
The moon creep across
The sky,
Wishing that I
Were too.

DG