What Do Lawn Mowing and Going to Church Have in Common?

While mowing our parking strip at our Gig Harbor house last night I thought about how similar mowing the lawn is to going to church. I never want to do either one. In both cases there’s the whole inertia factor of doing something perceived to be more pleasant—in other words, making the decision to do either activity. You may know intellectually that do it will be good for you, but the thought of reading can be the siren’s call.

For both going to church and mowing the lawn, you need appropriate clothes. I am not a fan of the move over the last 40 years toward “come-as-you-are” church. I admit to not being a regular church attendant, but back in the ‘50s and ‘60s when I was you dressed up like you were…well, going to church. I think showing up in jeans and a T-shirt is disrespectful. Lawn mowing is the other end of the spectrum. I normally wear dresses so for lawn mowing I need to look up a pair of pants that it won’t matter may get grass stained.

People leave you alone during church and mowing the lawn people leave you alone. One because they don’t want to interrupt your prayers and the other because they are afraid you’ll hand off the job. Actually, that is not entirely true. Smokin’ John, our Gig Harbor next door neighbor, will come out and bug me about cutting down the alder that sits on the edge of our property. In both instances you have plenty of time for contemplating the meaning of life. Times may vary depending on the yard. Our Gig Harbor yard is a kind of Unity Church service, but to get John to leave me alone I’m telling him we are Druids, therefore the tree is sacred. The yard in Ilwaco is two lots and more of a Greek Orthodox liturgy.

Whether it is church or lawn mowing, I always feel very righteous when I’m done. The thing with mowing is that you can see the fruits of your labor immediately AND you get to do it outside.