Lawn Care
In front of our house, we have a section of grass that is having a hard time growing. It has little shoots of nice green grass, but it is struggling. It has little patches of green, but mostly it looks tired. Thin. Beat up. Like it’s trying really hard to survive.
I asked the guy who laid it, “Why does the grass throughout the rest of my yard look awesome? It has a huge variety of sun and shade, watering and tree coverage, and it all looks healthy and lush. But this section looks like it is having an incredibly hard time.”
And he said, “Well, that sod didn’t have time to create deep roots before it took the wear and tear of people.”
This grass was laid at the same time as everything else, but it was in a location where it got trampled by workers, by us moving in, by our kids running out to play, by bikes and scooters, and by kids playing catch. This area wasn’t able to build a healthy foundation before it was exposed to the reality of everyday life.
In other words, the problem wasn’t what happened to the grass. The problem was that the grass wasn’t rooted deeply enough before life happened.
The rest of the yard had very little traffic and very little disturbance. It was able to create deep, strong roots so that when we play fetch with our dog or our kids and neighbors ride their bikes across it, it can withstand what comes.
I couldn’t help but realize…this is us.
We are meant to be people who create deep, meaningful rhythms, deep roots, and find ourselves planted in the rich soil of our faith because the reality of day-to-day life will take a toll on us.
We talk regularly at The Chapel about abiding in Jesus, being changed by Him, and embodying His ways for the glory of God and the good of others. The ways of Jesus are wildly comprehensive. They don’t save us, but they do help us establish good roots.
We’ve talked about prayer and Scripture reading, Sabbath and fasting, solitude and silence.Each one of these practices of Jesus, each one of these disciplines of the first followers, each one of these rhythms of the ancient church helped them stay rooted in their faith when obstacles, persecutions, and pressures came.
We are not the ancient church living under the oppressive regime of Rome, but we do find ourselves in a world where we are being discipled by many powerful forces other than Jesus.
To be a disciple is to be a student, to learn from your teacher or rabbi, to know their ways, to apprentice under them, to become like them, so that when people see you, they are reminded of your teacher.
If we’re not careful, we can spend far more time being discipled by other voices than by Jesus.
Many of us would say Jesus is our teacher, but if we looked honestly at where we spend our attention, we might discover we are being shaped more by other voices than by Him.
We are discipled by the internet.
By algorithms.
By social media feeds.
By cable news.
By political tribes.
By consumer culture.
By whatever has our attention most often.
The question isn’t whether we’re being discipled. The question is who is discipling us.
If someone spent a week watching my reactions, my conversations, my priorities, and my habits, who would they conclude is discipling me?
Am I becoming more loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, and self-controlled…or just more anxious, angry, distracted, and exhausted?
Many of us do have deep roots, regular rhythms, and practices…just not in the ways of Jesus and not in the ways of the Kingdom of Heaven.
When people interact with us, do we remind them of Jesus…or something else?
When they see us, do they catch a glimpse of God’s incredible love…or something else?
When they see the way we live, act, treat others, and speak about others, do they see that we are becoming more like our God and King…or something else?
If it is something else, we are going to look like that patch of grass in my yard. It’s there, but it’s getting beat down. It’s struggling. And I’m not sure how much it can handle.
But we should become like the rest of my yard.
We need to take time. Time alone. Time in quiet. Time to be renewed and refreshed. Time to be restored and redeemed. Time to be rooted in Jesus and His ways.
Roots grow slowly. That’s the frustrating part.
But they also hold when the storms come. That’s the beautiful part.
Summer has a way of disrupting our routines. Vacations, visitors, camps, and longer days can easily pull us away from healthy rhythms. But they can also be an opportunity to sink our roots even deeper.
The rest of my yard still gets trampled on, worn down, and beat up. But because of its deep roots, it is able to withstand what comes its way.
Dallas Willard once said, “You become like the people you spend time with.”
So we should ask: Who are you spending time with?
You’re going to sit at the feet of something.
You’re going to learn the ways of something.
You’re going to be shaped by something.
Why not Jesus?
Why not the One who knows you best, loves you most, and promises to be with you through whatever comes?
I hope you will join us as we continue to journey with Jesus, to know Him and His ways and embody them, not only for our own faith, but for the glory of God and the good of others.
And if anyone has any good suggestions for redeeming that patch of grass, let me know. I’m learning that following Jesus and spiritual formation is a bit more in my lane than lawn care.
A few reminders about stuff coming up around here.
Tuesday Noon Prayer Hour. Nearly every Tuesday this summer, come to The Chapel between noon and 1 for a time of quiet prayer and reflection. Opening with a devotional reflective teaching, times of silence, prayer prompts, and live worship. It is a really simple and beautiful time to rest in Jesus. Come and go as you need. Come today!
Summer Bible Studies. We are doing an all-church evening Bible Studies on Wednesday, June 10th and 17th at 5 p.m. at The Chapel. Then two more in July. You’ll get a live co-ed Bible teaching from me and Sarah. If you have ever listened to the podcast, it will be like a live version of our Study Notes Podcast. Our hope is that gathering at 5pm will allow people to go to dinner with friends or enjoy sunset or some other way that people can continue to build community with one another at The Chapel. We’ll be in 2 Peter, so if you were with us in the spring, we’ll pick up where we left off. See you Wednesday.
Next Gen. As you likely know, we are in the summertime with Next Gen. We still have kids meeting on Sunday mornings at the 10am service. They check in at The Chapel and then head over to the Seaside School for lessons and activities. This is open to kids 5 through 5th grade. Our youth (middle and high school) are now going to the service. We have some events and activities planned for the summer. Be on the lookout for more details about Kids and Youth stuff via email!
Parking. Parking is limited at The Chapel and it will be increasingly crowded as summer gets rolling, so we encourage you to park by the school on Smolian and use the linked parking passes. This link should cover from now through the rest of the summer. Here is the link to more of the parking passes for Sunday morning worship. Those are good for the morning worship service on Sunday until noon and for some of the special Wednesday evening Bible studies. You can also park in the county lot between Seaside and Watercolor. It is a lovely short walk from the paid lot to The Chapel.
Worship. In case you hadn’t heard, we do two services each Sunday at The Chapel. 8:30am and 10am. The services are the exact same…and the early service is a bit less crowded. Like always during the summer, it gets more crowded and busy around here. With two services, the earlier time is a great option that is less crowded and usually cooler. Of course, if you are traveling or sick, worship with us online at our Facebook page or on our YouTube channel or listen to the sermon podcast wherever you stream. Just search up The Chapel at Seaside.
Let us know if you need anything. If you are free, I hope to see you today for Tuesday Noon Prayer, Wednesday All Church Bible Study, worship on Sunday, and around town.
Blessings.
Andrew