Even though we’ve lived in this house for 25 years, I've basically cut the lawn one way. I cut the back in a rectangle, always blowing the grass towards the outside. I then move onto the front and cut it in a triangle, again blowing the grass to the outside.
It’s important to know that the former owners didn’t hand me a set of written instructions on how to cut the lawn. There was no diagram with arrows showing which way to drive the lawn mower. They didn’t post a YouTube video either. I was left all on my own to figure it out. So, here’s how it happened.
The grass grew.
It needed cutting.
I cut it.
Repeat.
That’s it. I didn’t ask the neighbors how the former owners cut the lawn. There was no great big committee meeting about it. I didn’t consult a lawn expert for the best and most efficient way of cutting grass either. It needed cutting. I cut it. That’s it.
You might think this odd, but that’s exactly how we go about bringing hope into our lives. We just sort of wing it. Everything’s OK until one day it's not. We notice that something’s wrong. So, we just go out and get some hope on our own. We don’t really have any idea about how to find hope, or even what it looks like. But we don’t let that stop us. We’ll probably do what we’ve done before. And it doesn’t matter if it works or not because that’s all we know.
That is, unless we dare to do something new.
Yes, after 25 years of cutting the lawn the same way, I decided to do something different. I changed the direction and way I cut the lawn. Now, I take longer straight lines across the lawn instead of trying to go around each and every tree and bush.
And you know what? It’s easier to cut the lawn. It’s also faster. But it took being willing to try something new.
Now, there wasn’t a lot of risk when I tried cutting the lawn differently. If it didn’t work, I could always go back to the old way. But I thought that there had to be a better way. A different way.
The same is true with hope. If you’re like most of the people on planet Earth, your hope tank is running low. Maybe even running dry.
So, it’s time to try something new to fill up your hope tank. Instead of doing the same old thing of trying to fill your hope tank yourself, why not turn to the one who made you. The one who loves you. The one who died for you.
Jesus said, “I have come in order that you might have life—life in all its fullness.”
John 10:10 GNT
I don’t know about you, but that sounds like an offer worth looking into. Worth accepting. Worth changing who we trust.