The Parable of Yard Work, pt. 1

Jesus Still Teaches in Parables

We still have our house on James Island.  The real estate bust of 2008 hit us square in the teeth, and although we attempted to sell this house when we moved to Anderson, SC, we could not find a willing buyer.  We have been able to rent the house, and so for the last several years I have been a landlord, albeit a rather passive one.  With 230+ miles between this house and me, I contracted with a local rental agency to oversee the property.

Recently, we decided to put the house on the market.  This will be our third attempt to sell it, the last one being August through December, 2012.  Of course, this means dong some work to get the house ready for potential buyers to take a look.

Curb appeal is a big deal, and so I contacted some landscaping companies for estimates to do a basic clean up of the yard.  Although it is in the lease agreement for tenants to maintain the yard, this is not going to go much further than mowing the lawn... hopefully more than once a season.  Most people do not want to work in someone else's yard, no more than they care to wash and wax a rental car.  The estimates I received for doing this work were way more than I was willing to pay, so I took it upon myself to drive to the Charleston area and do as much of the work as I could accomplish myself.

My day of yard work became a living parable to me.  Jesus taught in parables, simple stories that usually revolved around day-to-day life that illustrated a spiritual lesson.  The word "parable" comes from a compound Greek word: "para" = alongside plus "ballow" = to throw.  It means then, "to throw alongside."  I have a feeling that many of Jesus' parables came as He and His disciples were walking and would come across someone, let's say a farmer who was sowing seed, and Jesus would "throw alongside" this scene a spiritual story like the one about the farmer, the seeds, and the different kinds of soil (Matthew 13).  Jesus had a way of taking an everyday experience and turning it into a spiritual lesson.

He still teaches us this way, if we'll just watch and listen.  As I labored, He became my teacher.  I want to write down the lessons He taught me on this day, first off so I'll remember them and also for anyone who comes across this blog may also benefit.