Edges, Fourth Legs

In my declining energy I jumped at the chance of someone coming to winterize (is that really a word?) my garden.  It's only the size of a largish handkerchief but it still holds a surprising amount of overgrown organic stuff.  

When the gardener came this week I think he saw genuine need!  He set to weeding and pruning. Unfortunately, sudden heavy rain saturated him and even for a seasoned gardener he found the going was too tough. However, he said the lawn needed cutting for the last time in 2025. Can you imagine that? Cutting grass nearing Christmas!  Through teeming rain I saw him manouvre a serious machine, intended for large scale acreage, and move swiftly up and down leaving attractive stripes in the soaked lawn.

Later when the sun came out I had opportunity to see his work.  The wet lawn looked transformed. Prior to cutting he had worked on edging it.  Near the deck he had exposed the wooden surrounds framing that part of the lawn. I had not seen these edges for a decade. Grass had grown over, with weeds germinating in the gap and a mulch of leaves.  On hands and knees he had restored the edge, long hidden.  Then for the rest of the lawn he dug its edges cleanly, weeding the beds and leaving earth freshly exposed.

I had not thought of it for years but one of my mother's sayings when I had to cut the manse lawn was 'Don't forget the edges!' I remember her cautioning that the job was never done until the edges were properly cut. I also remember regularly skimping that part. After all the main law looked OK.  Yet, it was proved true again this week - now that the edges have been clearly cut the lawn looks finished.  

This lesson about completing a job properly is an important one.  I remember a teacher commending fourth-leggery to her students- that when you were cleaning the room and the far leg of a chair or sideboard, or whatever, was less accessible so no-one would see whether it was cleaned or not, it was just as important as the rest. I know this makes a different point but it also comes back to that verse Col 3:23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your hears, as working for the Lord and not for men!

Edges, fourth-legs, I get the point!

Humanness

I have moaned about my dismal task of disposing old books of sermons, brown, mottled, and often massively dated in language and tone though not, I hasten to add, outdated in message. Admittedly, a little patience is sometimes needed when reading!  I also have several preacher biographies - sometimes massive tomes!  Thinking of John Watson, also known as author Ian Maclaren, I shall need to ditch his heavy biography along with his other books I mentioned a post ago.  Written in 1908, it charts his full life: studying in Edinburgh and Germany, minister in Edinburgh, Glasgow and 25 years in Liverpool, acclaimed novelist, theologian, involved in founding Westminster College, Cambridge,  interacting with the good and great on wide travels, especially in the USA. And it turns out, especially compassionate about the ordinary mortals he met too. That's what always interests me when I read a biography. What kind of person was he? 

• Top of the list, his distinguishing characteristic was humanness. 'It was said of him at his death that nearly every man on the streets of Liverpool was more or less affected in the loss. He gave himself to everyone he met - the most accessible of men and with this great generosity'. 
• Happiness - his affectionate family life and rich friendships. For him a happy day was strenuous labour followed by time with family and friends.
• Humility - 'no great preacher was ever less elated on a Sunday night...because he felt his service was so poor and ineffectual.'
• Religious conviction - his faith in Christ was central with a key theme of immortal hope.  'Convinced of the emptiness of all human desires and efforts if they end in death...he had much of the mystic's certainty'. 
• Grace towards others - a great encourager of others, with compassion for those he saw unfairly criticized.

Of course there were other aspects such as his drivenness and depression - which makes some of the

above even more remarkable.

When I read this I was particularly struck by the word humanness. I don't think I have ever used it before and yet it sums up so well the best of being a human being.  And as the Advent season gathers pace towards the coming of Christ in flesh it seem a very apt word to keep in mind.  The greatest expression ever of humanness