The backyard

?Growing up my father and I had this…gentlemen’s agreement when it came to maintaining our grass. Yes, that’s the best way I could describe it. His job was to cut the front yard and he always did an outstanding job, cutting, trimming, sweeping, and making it into a fine representation of our home and neighborhood. Even though it was simple he took great pride in this task that took him all of oh…about 25 minutes to complete…and that included yapping it up with the neighbor across the fence.

My part of this agreement…was the backyard which by comparison, was far more difficult. For starters, the backyard was three times the size of the front with three trees, a clothesline, and hedges lining the fence. To make matters even worse (yes, it gets worse) …the backyard was sloped. All of these things made what was already a difficult job even more challenging. 

Every single time I would hear my father firing up that old lawnmower, I knew it was just a matter of time before I was back there in that backyard, battling grass, trees, mosquitoes, dust…the sight of it all made me cringe…but my father never did.

I remember this one time I thought I was alone, and I laced up my shoes to go out and cut the back, mumbling all the while. Little did I know he was standing right around the corner, listening to every word that I said. Out of nowhere, it came…scared the living daylights out of me…

“Say look here chief, what’s all this you running your mouth about?” It scared the living daylights out of me because my father is not the type of man you back talk to…but he’s also the type of man who demands an answer. I remember sheepishly launching into my case saying, “The backyard is so much bigger and there are so many other things back here that make getting this done harder.” 

He came closer and said, “Look around; you got a lawnmower, a rake, a trimmer and plastic bags. He paused and said, “It might be a harder but if you stop all that fussing and complaining, you’ll see that I have given you everything you need to get the job done.”

***

I was a small boy when that conversation took place and my father was teaching me a lesson. No; it wasn’t about doing yard work or making sure the grass was done right. Sure, he wanted that done but his intentions were far greater. No, that was about preparation because he knew at some point, I would encounter another backyard. It might be a job loss or a relationship that didn’t work out but he knew that I would encounter another backyard. 

He was wise enough to know that no matter what form the backyard came in, no matter when it arrived, or what set of circumstances led it to my door…he also knew that our Father above never cringes. That’s right, the Good Lord, as he likes to call him, never cringes.

He never cringes and here’s something else I’ve come to realize friend…if we stop running our mouths, complaining and fussing and take a minute to look around we’ll see that no matter how large the backyard may be…

He has given us everything we need…to get the job done…