The Mower and Straight Lines- A Parable

There was a middle-aged man mowing his lawn on his riding mower. It was late in the season. There hadn't been much rain. It was late in the day. The sun was low in the sky casting long, sometimes confusing (though beautiful) shadows. Although the lawn was generally not long, the few spots that were made it look scruffy, so it needed a trim. It was even a bit dry and brown in some spots but would definitely look better mowed.

As the man mowed he noticed how hard it was to see where he should go. The reason it was hard to know where to go next was because it was hard to see where he had been. Since most of the grass was not long there was no clear path created by mowing it.

The man thought if he slowed down and mowed more carefully he could do a good job and not miss any spots. This worked for a while but the man became concerned how much time it would take to mow since he had so many other things that needed attending in his life. He wished for a way he could go faster and still be sure not to miss any spots.

Then he turned a corner and the sun shone just right on his path, not for a long time but long enough to realize that the path he had cut before had been a straight line and if he just went straight, no matter what happened to the light, he would mow exactly where he should. This was a great insight and he was happy and confident - for a moment.

Then in front of him loomed the darkness of the shadow cast by the huge Copper Elm. The man could not see anything under the tree. It was impossible to see the right path. He began to fear. Immediately the man thought of straight lines - if he could just keep his line straight in the darkness, when he emerged in the light he would still be on the right path. He began to feel confident again and looked up. It was then he saw the light beyond the shadow and the straight line of the path leading from the shadow into the light. In his mind he could connect the lines on each side of the shadow, because they were straight, and drive through the darkness without fear, knowing he would be on the right path when he got back in the light. And that's just what happened.

When he was done he thought of the importance of making straight paths. He'd never much thought that knowing where he had been could help him know where to go next, on the lawn, or in life, but now he knew the straighter the path he forged the easier and better it would make life in the future. He thought about how sometimes he had to walk into the darkness, with faith, knowing the light would reappear and how sometimes he had feared. Now he knew that if he were walking straight paths, there would be no fear in the dark because he could stay on the right path until the light reappeared. He thought how this applied particularly to him, in his middle-age, a little late in life just as it had been late in the season for the grass. While a lot of new grass was not growing, it still needed to be tended to and the very fact that it wasn't growing so fast made it actually more difficult to see the path, but that life's pace could be kept brisk if he were walking in straight lines. He thought, as he was drifting off to sleep, how nice it would be if the grass just never needed to be mowed, then he wouldn't need to worry about paths at all, but figured as he drifted off to sleep, that won't happen because there definitely won't be any astroturf or turf of any sort in heaven. He was content.