Do you want to know what cracks me up? Lawn ornaments. Frozen three-quarter sized deer, cowboy silhouettes, globes, windmills… the list could go on forever. Now one or two ornaments on their own is really not all that bad, depending on the size of lawn. It’s when you have so many ornaments in your lawn that people start to question whether or not you have a craft store inside your house that makes me think a line has been crossed. And what’s really the point? A love of arts and crafts? A desire to entertain dog walkers and rollerbladers? And truly, what does it do for your lawn?
And since we’re asking questions, do lawn ornaments really make a house a home? I think the house becomes inviting simply because of the grass…not the ornaments. This summer I was on a bike ride and the Lord said to me “is the grass enough?” I think my response to him was something like, “What? Umm, what Lord? Is the grass enough?” I’m learning to press in, to keep asking the Lord what he means when things don’t make a whole lot of sense. So, I simply asked… and honestly didn’t hear what he meant, right away.
Then today, he began to teach me about love…and lawn ornaments.
I’ve been involved in almost every Christian activity imaginable…well, maybe most of them. I’ve been to retreats & conferences; been on ministry teams and leadership teams and shepherding teams and servant teams; shared the gospel in secret and in front of rooms of people; prayed in code and in plain English; strategized and theorized. But what does it all boil down to in the end? It’s something that I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. I’ve been struck by Revelations 2 which talks about the church at Ephesus… Jesus says, “I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. YET I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first…”
They did it all. They were Christians that had the deeds, the strategies, the convictions and yet they were missing something. How does that just happen? How does a lawn get covered with ornaments? Well, one ornament at a time. Programs, ministries, and manifestations can become lawn ornaments in front of your spiritual house. If not submitted to the Lord, they often are the things used to take your eyes off Him.
And it’s something I’ve been guilty of…
I’ve been guilty of running after doing things for him instead of running after His Heart. The Lord had to show me that I had forsaken my first love by asking me “is the grass enough?” Really he was asking me, ”is love enough?” As grass makes a house a home, love makes your heart a home for God. When all the programs are ended and the strategies have been enacted, is love enough? After you’ve reached your goals and walked out your dreams, then what? Will love be enough??
1 Corinthians 13 says, “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.”
Gongs eventually stop ringing, prophecies cease, and ministries end. But what is left is love. When everything gets boiled down and filtered out the old Beatles saying is really true: All you need is love.
So my prayer today is “Lord, reduce me to love. Let your love always be enough. Bring me back to ‘you and me’ and ‘me and you.’”
love ……… no defination