My parents used to roll their eyes at my paternal grandfather’s habit of buying gadgets. As a child, I used to laugh when they teased him about it, but the proclivity appears to have genetic roots; my father now has his own share of gadgets, and it turns out I am a bit partial to them, too. I don’t think either of us are quite in the same league as my grandfather, but there’s no doubting the fact that I much prefer purchasing an innovative and interesting gadget than mundane but necessary items. Do I need a wine aerator? Clearly not. But my father-in-law swore by his, so I thought I’d try one out. Now my iPod is broken, surely the speaker dock I bought for it is fit only for the bin. No, no, not so – there’s a Bluetooth-capable converter gadget which means I can now use it with my phone – even though that’s an Android phone, too. That’s saving the planet and satisfying my gadget desires all in one!
One of my most recent gadget acquisitions is a robotic lawn mower. With a large lawn to maintain at the Rectory, I have been fascinated by them for a long time, but since we have a ride-on mower and robot mowers don’t come cheap, I never bought one. However, when I started to consider the cost of paying a gardener to mow the grass in the long garden of my home in Lincolnshire, the sums made more sense. A quick calculation suggested that I would save the equivalent of the initial investment in little over a year, so I went for it. The sales blurb claimed that running the robot for a year would consume electricity costing less than I spend every month on petrol for my ride-on mower in Hunsdon. (Granted, the garden at the Rectory is bigger, but I couldn’t argue with the idea of costs of just £9 a year!)
The robot mower has its own docking station in the garden where it goes to recharge when the battery is running down (or when it starts to rain). Then, after a couple of hours, off it goes again so that it is pretty much constantly cutting the grass according to its weekly schedule. (I can change this with an app on my phone, even from Hunsdon. I’ve set it only to cut during daylight hours so that it is hedgehog friendly!) One of the best things about it is that there is no waste. Instead of us filling our green waste wheelie-bin with grass clippings every time we visit the house, this little mower just drops the clippings where it cuts them. Ordinarily, leaving the clippings on the lawn is rather unsightly, but because this mower is always working, the grass simply doesn’t get the chance to grow long and the clippings it leaves are tiny, easily mulching into the soil, putting the nutrients back whence they came.
The constant mowing has improved my lawn to the extent that my neighbour has even commented about it. This fits with one of life’s common themes – that “little and often” is usually a better way than erratic patterns of “nothing then loads.” My piano teacher knew if my practice had only been the hour before my lesson. Relationships struggle if they are based on merely sporadic encounters. Similarly, a high-days and holidays faith is likely to be less robust and fruitful than one which is nurtured with regular prayer, Bible study and fellowship with other Christians. When I see my robot constantly mowing in Lincolnshire, I am reminded of the benefits of keeping close to God all the time. When I manually cut the grass in Hunsdon, I am reminded of the problems that are created by not keeping close to him!
May your lawns challenge you about your relationship with God!