It’s been raining for weeks. Our yard is too wet to mow. The ground is mushy, the lawn overgrown. My husband can’t stand to see it this way—with nothing to do but wait. “Rain, rain, rain,” he grumbles.
The first day without rain, even though his feet sink with every step to the garage, he takes out the driver mower. The engine runs for about ten minutes and cuts out. I look out the window and see he’s stuck in big muddy ruts down by the catalpa tree. Slipping on my shoes, I go out to help him. He puts it in reverse, and I lean over and push and push until the mower is freed.
As I walk back inside, I think of one of my favorite Dr. Peale sermons about a sign in upstate New York on an old dirt road that read something like Choose Your Rut Carefully. You’ll Be in It for the Next 25 Miles.
I look at the window as the engine revs. The rider mower is splattered with a thick layer of mud. Tires spin on the deep, growing groove, but it’s no use—he is stuck again. Our kind neighbor drives his four-wheeler over and rescues him.
Out the upstairs window, I see the big muddy ruts trailing through the long grass and say this prayer: Lord, when I stop forcing what I want and trust Your timing,
I avoid life’s ruts.
—Sabra Ciancanelli
