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cuttin' Grass

I never could imagine spending so much time at a Catholic parish. The thing about it though was that I had to. One of the customers for my summer landscaping job just happens to be an extremely large parish. Even though I got to use the rider all day, the all day part is what needs to be stressed here. Hour after hour, blade after blade of grass I pursued onward (more back and forth, and sometimes back and forth again). So with all that time to think and listen to the hum of the engine, is it possible that God could teach me something? I mean it is a Catholic parish we are talking about. (jk)

Yes, and not only yes but it actually involved someone of the parish (I want to say parishioner, but those are the church goers, so parish guy will do for now). As I was entering somewhere between my 6th and 8th hour, A guy of the parish was laid out on the lawn, sun-bathing while reading some book. It can be a very good educated guess that he was reading something related to religion. By that time of the day the lawn cutting had gotten pretty monotonous and seeing this guy sprawled out reading was starting to look like a slap in the face. He looked young, no more than 5 years older than me, and was probably doing this to me because somehow he knew I've been raised a Protestant.

Anyway, the lesson: cutting grass sucks. That of course is the literal translation, the more in depth look would be to say that cutting grass and lying out on the grass of your parish are two totally different things. Here is a young man on his way to theological success; while here is a young man cutting grass for a summer job. Both are searching for God though. Both have presumably found him (I did not talk to him to find out).

As I went around in circles, fighting the horribly bumpy terrain, I would think time to time about a biblical topic. Though we did not speak to each other, all parish guy saw was just another lawn cutter, with all the stereotypes to follow. But the other lesson from above is that it does not matter what we do on this earth, cut grass, attend seminary, or even be a professional blogger. Instead, no matter how mundane it is, our summer job, profession or career matters only to what we do to serve others. In the time between we can study God, sun-bathing on the lawn or lawn mower.

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