What Was Hidden In The Grass Clippings

Did you ever think about your pet peeves?
Those little things that annoy you, whether legitimate or not.
Those things that just seem to bother you.
Those pet peeves are different for each person.

I do not like dishes left in the sink.
If a person can bring their dishes from the table to the counter, they can do the next thing.
It is simply one more step to bend down and put the dishes in the dishwasher.
My children knew that was expected of them as they cleared the table.

I do not like when someone takes the last something and does not replace it.
It is annoying when someone leaves just enough in the bag or jar.
It is frustrating when there is only enough milk to cover the bottom of the glass.
Or when you need a paper towel and someone has used the last one.

Everyone has something that is annoying to them.
Sometimes it is a rational annoyance.
Sometimes it is hard to understand why that particular thing bothered the person.
My real pet peeve, which is higher on the annoyance scale, is grass clippings.

Our spring has been extremely rainy.
Even when you are faithful to cut the grass each week, it grows at a rapid pace.
Not only does it grow rapidly, it grows thickly.
I see the thick grass and think, clippings, all the time.

Maybe it is because I am a mom.
Maybe it is the memory of five children traipsing in the house after the grass was cut.
Clumps of grass clippings were left in their wake.
I always knew where they walked: to the bathroom or to the kitchen for a snack.

My husband has a mulching blade on our tractor.
He sets blade at the highest setting so the grass is not cut too low.
When it has not rained, the clippings get tossed in with the freshly cut grass.
That is actually a good thing for the lawn.

However, despite the high blade setting, the wet weather produces many grass clippings.
The grass clippings are thick.
They are left in big clumps on the lawn.
They are scattered around in multiple places.

I must confess that I have never cut the grass in my life.
I must confess that I have no desire to ever get on a tractor.
I am grateful to my husband and my children for always doing that job through the years.
I do not mind weeding, which is not their favorite job.

As I look out this spring, all I see are grass clippings on many front lawns.
One day on my walk, I decided to hire the boy across the street.
I hired him to rake up the grass clippings for me.
That was a job my own sons did when they were younger.

It took him almost two hours to rake the clippings for me.
He put the clippings in the wheelbarrow and dumped them into the woods.
The lawn looked so nice.
It is the little things that make me happy.

The next week it rained again.
I knew that when my husband cut the grass, there would be clippings again.
I did not want to hire the boy from across the street because they had their own clippings.
However, I did not want to look out and see clumps of wet clippings on our front lawn.

I decided that I would use the leaf blower and blow some of the clippings away.
I had to wait a day for the clippings to dry out.
I went out and began in the most conspicuous place.
I watched the clippings break apart and scatter; it is the little things that make me happy.

As I was making progress, I saw something move in the grass.
I looked down.
I saw a snake coiling around itself to get away from the blower.
When the air went in the direction of the snake, it tried to attack the air.

I was far enough away that I was merely a spectator.
However, snakes are not my favorite thing.
I looked down and saw the long tongue protruding from the snake’s mouth.
I knew that it was a garter snake but it was still not a pleasant sight.

It recoiled from the air being blown in its direction.
It almost seemed as if it was spiraling down into the ground.
When the air from the blower moved away, the snake appeared again.
I left the snake in the grass and went to another section of my lawn.

Snake in the grass is defined as a treacherous person, especially one who feigns friendship.
Another definition is: a concealed danger.
There was a snake in my grass.
The air from the blower brought the snake out of hiding.

The infant will play near the cobra’s den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest. (Isaiah 11:8)

One day everything will be revealed.
Nothing will be hidden.
There will be no snakes in the grass.
There will be nothing that can harm us.

No one will feign friendship.
No one will be devious or treacherous.
The infant will play near the cobra’s den, the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.
The wolf will live with the lamb, the calf and the lion and the yearling together.

One day.
The Lord Jesus will come back.
He will make everything new.
Everything will be made right.

Snakes will not hide in the grass.
The wind of Spirit will blow.
Nothing evil can hide any longer.
It will be a glorious new day.