Yard Work Fueled by Thankfulness

 I hate yard work. I don't say that lightly. As I wrote those words, I interrogated my emotions. Was I being dramatic? Was I taking on a victim mentality? Was it because of my allergies? After some thought I can honestly say that yard work falls into the "hate" category. 

But if you live in a country where private homes have yards, you don't have a lot of money to pay someone else to do it and you don't live in an apartment, yard work is part of your fate. Now its important to note that I know not everyone can relate to my feelings. I've met plenty of people who love to get out there on a Saturday and work on their yard. I envy those people and am thankful for them. 

So when I have put off the yard work for a while and a sunny Saturday comes along, you will see me out there sweating behind a lawn mower and fighting with bushes. As I've thought about my attitude on those days and the way I went about the work, I had a very interesting realization. Because of my dislike for the task but the necessity to do it, I came up with a coping mechanism. I would harness my anger and frustration with the job and use that emotion to power my hands and feet. And it's amazing how well it works. Anger and frustration are powerful sources of energy. But the downside is that when you are done your body is deflated and your soul is defeated. 

That isn't any way to live! It sure isn't a way to live as a follower of Jesus who gave us the Holy Spirit to empower our lives and actions. That realization has been slowly dawning on me. I'll have to admit that I'm a processor. I have to "noodle" on things for a while before I understand them and can translate that understanding into action. 

Well, after a few years of wrestling with this realization, I came to a conclusion: "Hate is a crummy energy source!" It might sound obvious, but when you've been running on it for a long time it isn't immediately clear. It's a bit like going from a gas powered car to an electric one. If you've been filling up your tank your whole life, it takes a mental shift to think in terms of a recharging your car. 

Now what to do about it? Well, this morning as I began to do the first real yard work of 2024, I made a decision. Just like someone might trade in that old gas-guzzling car far a new electric one, I was going to trade in my "hate fuel" for "thank you fuel."

As my resolve strengthened, two things came to my mind. The first was that thankfulness is actually a very powerful source of energy. In fact it has more acceleration and endurance than hate. And at the end of the day your body might be weary but your mind and spirit are refreshed. And that is exactly what happened. As I did my work today and reached those points where I would typically have reached for anger, frustration, grumpiness and hate, instead I reached for thankfulness, appreciation, affirmation and contentment. Wow, what a difference! I'm still sore, but my spirit is not defeated. 

So what thankful things did I draw on as I worked? Well, my yard itself provided opportunities for thankfulness. Let me give you a few examples . . . 

I looked at the tree by our house and was thankful for a friend who had come by a few weeks earlier to cut down some big branches that were too close to the house. As I picked up the sticks that had fallen during that work, I was so thankful he would come and spend the time to help us maintain the tree and our home. 

I then I ended up having conversations with two neighbors while out working. With both we had meaningful discussions about family, friends and things going on in our world. One neighbor and I talked about a bit of yard work that had to be coordinated at our property line. Another neighbor and I talked about our favorite walking routes around town. I was able to leave both conversations thanking God for such amazing neighbors and for the chance to run into them and have meaningful discussions. 

As the leaves, sticks and grass started accumulating, I loaded up my wheelbarrow. I remembered that not only was the wheelbarrow free because a neighbor had put it out on the street but another neighbor had spent an hour or two fixing the wheel (the reason it was out on the curb). I realized that my job was so much easier because I had this simple tool. I've never owned a wheelbarrow before so I didn't really know what I was missing. But let me tell you, it makes a big difference. 

Then after trimming a bunch of bushes, I moved on to the main challenge of the day. I had to trim all the new branches on our three pear trees. If you don't know about fruit trees, after you do a major trim of the tree to enhance the quality of the fruit, you get dozens if not hundreds of new branches that shoot straight up in the air. These branches need to be cut in order to channel the fuel to the fruit bearing branches and to keep the tree from growing too tall again. As I did this work, I remembered that last year two friends from our church came over to help us. Our trees had grown 20-30 feet tall and there were pears way out of reach. The trees were producing a lot of fruit but it wasn't very good and much of it rotted on the trees because we couldn't reach it. But our friends had their own orchard and a whole truck load of the right tools. They came over and within a day our trees were trimmed back down to the size they needed to be. What a huge help they had been and I got to spend some time being thankful for the generosity of these dear friends. 

The power of thankfulness ended up being a much better fuel source to get me through my difficult task. And as a result I left the task rejoicing in these amazing people that have been so generous, kind and supportive of us as we settled in a new town. Another amazing benefit of this new fuel source is that it actually replenished me with enough energy to write this article and share what I learned with you. 

While hate would have driven me to feel sorry for myself, get angry at the world and fill my heart with contempt for those around me, thankfulness has had a multiplying effect. It helped get the job done, it refreshed my heart for the rest of the day and it powered me to think beyond myself and spend time writing about it. 

What is powering your activities today? Are you seeking God-honoring sources of fuel or are you grabbing at destructive sources and hoping for the best?