When the grass grows

There are some things summer brings to mind and I think of them every time it rolls around. When I lived in Wisconsin just about every house had a grass lawn which required mowing. Until my son was old enough to be assigned this chore, it was mine. This was a once a week task but fortunately my husband provided me with a power mower so it was actually kind of a fun job. It had a key start and was easy to use. I remember certain instances over the years that only someone who did the mowing would experience. Because we had a large dog, there were always patches of taller grass that had been individually fertilized. Because we had large trees in our front yard, it didn't take me long to discover that a large circle of mulch around the base of these trees made my job lots easier. I also remember running over a nest of baby bunnies that fortunately were so tiny they stayed in their nest until after the mower had passed over and survived.

When we moved to Arkansas, the house we rented while building ours had a lawn which was also mine to mow. It didn't take me long to discover that the summer temperatures in Arkansas were hotter than they had been in Wisconsin. So, when we moved into our new Bella Vista house, we landscaped with rock and gardens which I appreciate even more today 20 years later. I also remember the first time we went back to visit how green the lawns looked in our old neighborhood.

While there aren't many grass lawns here, there are certainly mowers in operation. As I travel down Evanton Road and Highlands on my way to everywhere, there are often mowers along the side of the roads cutting the grass and weeds that don't take long to become overgrown. I am somewhat in awe of how they manage to cut the grass at all when their path is strewn with rocks, trees and is anything but flat. It has to be a challenge to run a mower over the roadsides in Bella Vista.

But it is the challenges in our lives that make us who and what we are. It is also the challenges that bring us closer to God. When life is easy and predictable I tend to take God for granted. I know He is in my life when it runs smoothly. However, when something unexpected comes along and I need help handling it, I hope I turn to Him. I think I do and there is comfort knowing He will help me through. I can't count the number of times when my yard has needed water that I have thanked Him for sending a much needed rain. It allows my gardens to grow. I know it also makes the grass grow which brings about the need for mowers to get back out and recut areas they covered just a short time ago. However, that is one of the blessings of life, and I am sure the firefighters in California would agree with me. There are so many blessings in my daily life that I need to thank God for. I just I remember where they come from, and to be able to mow a lawn is one of them, so I am happy when the grass grows.

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Jan Burgess has been a Bella Vista resident since 1995. She and her husband, Bruce, are avid cooks. The opinions expressed are those of the author.