The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - Thoughts While Mowing the Lawn

Episode Date: September 6, 2024

Do you like mowing the lawn? Jeff Cavins does! In this episode, Jeff Cavins not only describes the joy he finds in mowing his lawn, but also offers some great ideas of things to think about while mowing the lawn or doing any other “humdrum” household task. Jeff claims that even the most regular tasks can be an opportunity for prayer and meditation. Snippet from the Show “Lead me to pastures, Lord, and graze there with me. Do not let my heart lean either to the right or to the left, but let your good Spirit guide me along the straight path.” (Liturgy of the Hours, Vol. IV, p. 1214) Email us with comments or questions at [e-mail]. Text “jeffcavins” to 33-777 to subscribe and get Jeff’s shownotes delivered straight to your email! Or visit https://media.ascensionpress.com/?s=&page=2&category%5B0%5D=Ascension%20Podcasts&category%5B1%5D=The%20Jeff%20Cavins%20Show for full shownotes!

Welcome to the Jeff Kaven Show, where we talk about the Bible, discipleship, and evangelization, putting it all together in living as activated disciples. This is show 393 Thoughts While Mowing the Lawn. Welcome to the show, my friend. Good to have you again this week, and looking forward to talking to you today about something that, a lot of people do. Some people don't want to do it. Others absolutely love to do it. And I have a confession to make, I like mowing the lawn. Maybe you do too. We'll talk about that a little bit, but more to the point today, I'd like to talk about what do you think about when you mow the lawn. And if you don't mow a lawn, you live in a senior home or you live in an apartment where you're not responsible for the lawn. Well, then just insert doing the dishes or,

cleaning your room or cleaning out the garage, anything that's repetitious, that gives you the time and the space to think about other things. Do not do this when you're doing brain surgery. Just a little footnote there. Hey, if you want the notes today for the show that got some scriptures for you, all you got to do is send my name in, Jeff Kavens. You can text it to the number 3-3-7-7. That's 2-3s, 3-7s, and we'll get all that to you. And we'll keep you on the list. If you accidentally got taken off the list, do it again. We'll get you back on it. We don't want you taking notes while you are mowing the lawn. It's too dangerous. And so when you're done mowing the lawn, the notes will be waiting for you back there on the patio with an Arnie Palmer.

Okay? You just want to get that out of the way. You know, I'm out here deep in the woods in Minnesota again today, and I have the responsibility of doing my lawn. That's mowing my lawn out here. And let's face it, sometimes when you're out in the woods, you don't think about it as much. It's usually when you're back in the city and you look out the window and your wife or your husband reminds you, you know, we really got to get to that lawn. It's looking really, really, really rough. Well, I have found it difficult to resist mowing the lawn. lawn and I wondered, am I different? Do I get into things that other people enjoy or don't enjoy it? They

wouldn't enjoy it. I don't think that I'm alone in my mowing love. I've heard from many of my friends that they too love mowing their lawn. And truth be told, I think that men dream of a hobby farm. Why? So that they can justify buying a John Deere riding mower. I've seen it. I've seen it many times. men who only have a tenth of an acre, and they ride that lawn more, that riding more, and must be there and back once to do their lawn and they're done. But they had a lot of fun on that riding mower. You know, we smile because it looks funny, but deep down inside, every man struggles with jealousy when they see other men mount the green steed of John Deere.

Well, yesterday, I was praying, and I mean. I mean mowing the lawn when I noticed my neighbor standing there looking at me. I stopped the meditation machine and went over to talk to her. It turns out that she had a great adventure Bible to return to me. After about 15 minutes of talking, I asked how she was doing since her husband passed away a couple of months ago. You might remember a few years ago, I asked you to pray for my neighbor out in the cabin hood. And when our discussion concluded with the neighbor, I said, you know, I'd be happy to mow your

lawn for you today in preparation for the holiday coming up. And she said, if you want to, sure. Do I want to? She thought I was being nice. Actually, I was being selfish. Seriously, there is a hum to the engine that makes me go inward for some reason. Have you noticed this phenomenon? It's like a temple of sound to me in a way. That Briggs and Stratton, 163 cubic centimeter engine, self-propelled, gas-powered, meditative combustion experience across an acre of problems and opportunities is what I enjoy. Weeds are your problems. And your amazingly straight lines are your attempt to put everything in order. Put a sign out at home.

Don't bother Dad. dad's praying right now. My girls knew that I could do some pretty exciting things with the lawn. In fact, one year, and I'm going to get to the heart of this in a moment, don't worry. But one year, I remember it was Carly's graduation from high school, and I purposely let the lawn grow to the point where it was rather obvious that it needed to be mowed. Well, what I did is I took the lawnmore out there And I outlined on the lawn her name And I wrote on the lawn, congrats Carly

In great big letters. And so when you stood up in the kitchen and looked down, There it was. And then I spray painted it yellow. And when she came home, Dad was a rock star. It looked pretty cool, to be honest with you. So what do you think about when you mow the lawn?

100% of the three people I polled said that they think about one of three things, problems, opportunities, and what they would do if they win the lottery. Now, I don't know if you think about those things, but I want to introduce you to a temple on the lawn, a temple in time, where you can enter and talk to God and do a number of things. In fact, that's what I want to share with you is I want to share with you some things. that you can think about while you're mowing the lawn. Now, when you are engaged in some kind of regular activity, whether it be mowing the lawn or taking the kids to school, waiting in line to pick those kids up, cleaning the kitchen or your bedroom or the garage,

my dad used to think that was a lot of fun. I didn't. But you can make that activity a temple in time. In other words, you can create a place to meditate and to pray. Isn't that great? So on the other side of this break, I'm going to give you five things to think about when you mow the lawn, clean your room, clean the kitchen, clean out the garage, or just clear out your mind and take a walk. You're listening to the Jeff Kaven show. Hi, I'm Father Michael Joseph Paris, and I am one of the hosts of Season 3 of Catholic Classics, where we'll read and explain the story of a soul by St. Teresa of Liseu, Doctor of the Church, an incredible saint who has inspired millions of Catholics with her life.

and teachings. To follow along, get the reading plan at ascensionpress.com slash Catholic Classics. Welcome back, my fellow lawn mower. I'm just curious. Do you really get into mowing the lawn? If you do, reach out to me. I need to know you're there. I need to know I have friends. I need to know that we're walking in solidarity here. And go ahead, send me an email. The Jeff Caven Show at ascensionpress.com. the Jeffcaven show at ascensionpress.com. And if you like to mow the lawn, or you like to look at a lawn that's mowed, or you like to smell a lawn, did you know, by the way, that a few years ago they did a study on what was the favorite smell of men?

In other words, what did they smell that really, really they liked? With women, it was cucumbers, I think, and then, or some kind of melon, like a cantaloupe. But for men, it was the smell of fresh cut grass. That's what they really liked. Well, anyway, I appreciate it if you would like this show and maybe make some comments and share it with people. You have to know people who like mowing the lawn. You have to. It's American.

So here's a few things to do when mowing the lawn. Number one, this is now, these are things that I actually do when I'm mowing the lawn. the lawn. No joke. I do. Here's a few things. Number one, praise God and thank him. Praise God and thank him. Thank him for his goodness. You know, when you're mowing the lawn, you have the time to really think about all the beautiful things that God has given you, whether it's in nature or your family or an idea or an experience or just reading the word of God. Praise God for his goodness. Sometimes people say, have the time to praise God or go up and experience a holy hour, what you do if you mow the lawn, you know, you can use that time to praise God. Now, when you praise God, you're thinking about

really two things. One, you are praising him for who he is, who he is, almighty God, all powerful, omniscient, omnipresent. And you also can praise God for what he has done. Now this could be in the Bible, or it could be in your own life to give God praise for what he's doing in your life, your children, for your spouse, for your friend, your roommate, whatever it might be. You know, John Damascene, who's a priest and doctor of the church, he said this, and I think it fits in so well. In fact, it's in the Liturgy of the Hours, Volume 4, page 1214, for those of you that take notes when you mow the lawn. That's the liturgy of the hour. Volume 4, page 1214. He said, lead me to pastures, Lord, and graze there with me. Do not let my heart

lean either to the right or to the left, but let your good spirit guide me along the straight path. Oh, this guy, this saint, was in tune with mowing a lawn. That's what I would say about that. So praise God for his goodness. Number two, why don't you use the time to memorize a verse from the Bible? How many times do we hear people say, ah, I just find that hard to do? I don't know. You know, you need some time to, you need some time to memorize those verses. Oh, I've got a few of them memorized, like Jesus wept, you know, but let's go a little deeper. Take a verse, any verse, and say to your stuff, write it down on a card, an index card, put it in your back. pocket put it in your sock whatever but while you're mowing the lawn stop every once in a while take

that out look at it and meditate on it try to memorize that verse from from the bible and you won't be disappointed it will come in handy in all kinds of situations it really will memorize a verse from the bible number three pray for your family now i enter into this topic a lot to be honest with you pray for one of the, a member of your family. It might be your spouse. It might be a sister, brother, or a cousin, or grandpa and grandma, your children. But what a good opportunity to say, when I mow the lawn, or clean my room or the garage, I am going to pray for my family.

Pray for the one who you would normally be discouraged about. You don't even want to think about that person. Well, pray for them. turn the opportunity to mow the lawn into an opportunity to pray for those who it might have been a problem lately now i don't think there's any problem with coming up with a list of people that might get under your skin a little bit and why not uh why not set out on on on that lawn and say well i'm going to pray for so-and-so you know when i mow the lawn when i mow the lawn when i mow the lawn today now if you do have that john deer riding mower and you only have

have to go there and back to get the whole lawn, well, put it in low gear. Do it real slow. Yeah, the neighbors will look at you a little bit weird, but you can pray for your family. How about number four? Pray about difficult situations that you are currently experiencing, either at work or with a family member or a friend. Pray for your family in the difficult situations that they're in. So in number three, we're going to pray for our family, you know, or the people, you know, that we are struggling with. But number four, we're going to pray about a difficult situation. Now, you might be experiencing a difficult situation at work, or you might be experiencing a difficult situation with a family member or a friend or a

politician. Pray for them. Pray for them. Our country, needs so much prayer that I would suggest mowing the lawn daily. Yeah, the neighbors will look at that weird as well. Who cares? Mow the lawn every day if that's what it takes to pray for our president and for our senators and representatives and Supreme Court and the dog catcher and everybody else. Pray about the difficult situations in your life.

Number five, number five, meditate. on a vice and a virtue. And you don't need to stop the more right now. By the way, if you are listening to me, when you mow the lawn, you can get a headset that will block out the noise out there, even though that is lovely. That, you know, that, that, that, that, that, that hum of the Briggs and Stratton 163 cubic centimeter engine, self-propelled, gas-powered,

meditative combustion experience across an acre of, of problems and opportunities. You can do that, okay? So, meditate on a vice and a virtue. Let's look at these real quick, shall we? Glutney. Do you struggle with gluttony in your life? Every other time you go back and forth when you're mowing the lawn,

you go and grab a donut over there on the deck. Okay, that might be a problem. And so if you struggle with gluttony, I would suggest temperance. I would suggest temperance in all things. So, you know, you might have a couple of cups of coffee in the morning, but you certainly don't drink a gallon in the morning. But if you're having problems with gluttony in your life, this might be an opportunity to pray

and ask the Lord to help you in the area of temperance. You could even come up with a Bible verse regarding temperance and meditate on that and memorize it. memorize it some people tell me they say jeff i really have a hard time memorizing and to those people who have a really difficult time memorizing i would suggest don't memorize it just remember it how about greed greed what's that greed is a vice so what is the virtue that counters greed well it would be generosity generosity so if you're struggling with greed then go after generosity.

How about pride? Pride. We all know that there are moments in our lives where we struggle with pride. I'm proud to tell you that I'm getting on top of that. But the opposite of that is what? It's humility. It's humility. And that might be what the lawn is calling for today,

is for you to start thinking about that in your own life. Maybe something was brought up this last week. you know what the officer at home and someone said you know what you're just full of yourself and that was the third time you heard it that day that might be a key right there but you got a problem how about anger versus patience anger versus patience yes yes let me just think about that for a moment anger how many people struggle with anger in their life and they're mowing the lawn and cleaning their room and they're throwing things around it because they're so angry with someone. It's time to exercise patience. How about lust? What is the counter to that vice called lust?

It would be chastity. Something to meditate on. Sloth versus diligence. And here is a big one. This is the seventh one. Envy. Oh, how many men and women have mowed the lawn struggling with envy and every thought in every row and every time they went around a tree they were struggling with envy they were thinking about their sister they were thinking about their cousin they were thinking about that guy at work that got that job that you were looking forward to you know that you get so angry sometimes over envy that you don't even save the clippings you just let him go anywhere you know make a mess out of it all right so what is the what is the opposite then you know how do we fight envy well we fight envy with contentment contentment and what are we content with we're content with

we're content with the lord and all that he is provided for us we don't judge ourselves based on what other people have or do or their reputation that is none of our business our business is to be content in all the good that god has given us and live our life in a satisfied way, knowing that I have all that I need from the Lord. I don't need to mow the lawn and be envious, although it does get done quicker because there's more energy. I'm a little bit more upset. All right. So you've got, I've given you five things this week that you can do when mowing the lawn or cleaning out your room or whatever you're doing. Clean out the car. You can do these things.

These things are actually very flexible. You can do these five things, not just in mowing the lawn. Don't get me wrong. These are not just lawn mowing exercises. You can do these with anything that you do on a regular basis. And maybe you don't even like to do some of these things, and you need your mind to go somewhere that's productive. So you've got, review these with me here.

You've got, praise God for his goodness, number one. Number two, memorize a verse from the Bible. Number three, pray for your family. Number four, pray about difficult situations. And number five, meditate on a vice and corresponding virtue. Well, I'm still praying for a writing mower, by the way, from my small lawn. That would take me to a, that would, if I got a John Deere writing mower, that would take me to a whole new level of.

of prayer. I'm talking serious intercession here. Oh, dad used to pray at the backyard grill, but now he is found a better place to pray. Do not disturb him when he's mowing the lawn. Well, my friend, if you mow the lawn today, it's right after Labor Day, it still needs to be moed. Let me know about it. I like to know what you thought about when you were mowing the lawn. lawn or cleaning the room or cleaning out the garage or whatever you might have been doing. And thank you for giving the show a thumbs up and share it with other people. Seriously, you do know of people who mow the lawn and they don't know these keys and you might be able to share them with them.

All right, let's pray in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Lord Jesus, we love you so much and we thank you that you are permeating every. aspect of our lives. And Lord, we even give you our lawn mowing time and ask you, Lord, to help us to meditate and to order our thinking aright. We thank you for this. In Jesus' name, amen. God bless you, my friend. I love you. Looking forward to mowing the lawn and being with you next week. Thank you.