God and Lawn

I was mowing my lawn last week when my crazy neighbor lady accosted me over the fence.  She shoved a $5-bill through the pickets and asked if I would mow her lawn for her.  I said I'd be happy to mow the lawn, and she didn't have to pay me.  I refused her $5.  (Frankly, if I were doing it for the money, $5 would be pretty insulting.  But I understand that she wants to feel like she's contributing.)

My friend Abe Lincoln wants to know if you'd do me a favor...

I used to mow her lawn more regularly, but lately it's been hard enough tending to my own stuff, so I haven't been very attentive of hers.  (Moving, planning a wedding, applying for jobs, buying a house, selling a house, and spending almost every weekend in Chicago takes up enough of my time.)  Another neighbor does the large part of her front yard with a riding tractor mower, but it's too big to get into her tiny fenced-in back yard, and that's what needed mowing.

She knows I'm moving and getting married, and asked me about my house situation.  I told her we were buying a house, and she asked if it was a fixer-upper or if it was move-in ready.  I said the latter, and she responded, "Well, that's good, because I know you don't like to do much house maintenance."  What the what?  I just agreed to mow her lawn, and she's taking a dig at my homeowner skillz?  I know it drives her crazy that I don't spend 10 hours a day on my yard like she does.  Sorry, some of us have a life outside of our garden.

++++

The conversation took a weird turn when she said how happy she was for me that I'd found love again and was moving on.

"God gave you a second chance," she said.

I nodded and smiled.  I agree that I'm very lucky and I am thankful for all the great things in my life.  I have more blessings than I can count. But do I believe that God gave me all those things?  No.  If I did, I could just as easily have responded to my rude lonely widowed neighbor lady with, "Yeah, it's too bad God doesn't give a shit about you."        

(When I told Betrothed this story, she said, "God didn't give you a second chance.  I did.")

But I don't believe God plays favorites.  When good things happen, it's not a reward, and when bad things happen, it's not a punishment.  It's just life.  Sometimes you're the lawnmower, sometimes you're the grass.  Or something like that.