A Guide To Lawn Decoration

Northern Indiana has a large, thriving deer population. Often people here see so many deer they are surprised to learn there are places where deer are hunted: "You hunt deer in California? We hit them with our cars over here!".

Anyway, my family liked to watch for deer while on the road when I was a child.

One day while traveling east to Kokomo, my mom spotted two deer within a house's frontyard. The deer were not real, they were some kind of lawn ornament. My mom remarked that it seemed strange to buy lawn ornaments and then put them in hard-to-see places. My dad responded by saying the best place to put those deer is in a place where the eye finds them only by accident.

I didn't quite understand my father that day. My taste in esthetics was about as sharp as keeping my crayons inside the lines.

Looking back on my father's suggestion I understand what he was saying. If the deer were in the middle of the yard, we'd all seem them right away, and it wouldn't look real or pleasant to the eye. In fact it would look pretty tacky.

Devotion is similar. In the initial stages it is like a secret that one keeps in ones heart, yet the one who has it longs to share it with his beloved.

Jesus and Paul both note that no one has seen God. This inconspicuous preference of God is perhaps one of the most conspicuous ascpects of life.

If God wants us to know Him so much, why doesn't he just write across the sky: "I am God. Get to know me!". Athiests are constantly asking this question. And here the advantage and disadvantage of athiesm speaks clearly.

"If God exists," the athiest claims, "And He wants people to know him, why doesn't he become like the lawn ornament in the middle of the yard where everyone can see and recognize Him at once?" The advantage of this view is that there is no mystery, but this is also the disadvantage of the view.

Using some decorative extrapolation, I have determined the athiest approach to lawn decoration: bright, neon-pink flamingos. Large inflatable gnomes. Maybe some card-board cutouts of famous celebrities like Ben Affleck and Gwyneth Paltrow. I suppose there could be some lighted signs, and -oh wait- I'm thinking of Las Vegas now. Wouldn't it be neat to have a lawn like Las Vegas?

Let's just say my lawn is never going to look like Las Vegas.

Having reviewed God's style and the way it relates to lawn decoration, let us consider what it would be like to live a life as someone who has been transformed by the power of God's style. Consider this passage from Isaiah:

Here is my servant whom I have chosen,
the one I love, in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him,
and he will proclaim justice to the nations.
He will not quarrel or cry out;
no one will hear his voice in the streets.
A bruised reed he will not break,
and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out,
till he leads justice to victory.
In his name the nations will put their hope.

The style of the writer is a bit unusual here. This servant is 'proclaiming' something in a way that seems to be especially strong. Yet at the same time his voice will not be heard in the streets.

"Everyone who seeks finds, everyone who asks is given, and everyone who knocks will have the door opened for him."

When a person has mastered the arts of style and good taste they are commonly referred to as "cultivated". Good esthetics appeal to the preferences of our eyes, yet this talent takes a great deal of training and dedication.

So too, in the life of devotion, a person who claims to love must not base his commitment on the loud, showy things he sees happening. He must learn to see with new eyes. To hear with new ears. He must be aware also of his strongest inner longings, and not simply the ones passing quickly on the surface.