By Dallas Martin
The corner where I abode was a dirty, messy wreck. And there say I, a rusted, dull, old, forgotten mower.
And there abode in the same shed as I, a new, shiny, sharp, engine mower. And once every week, when the Man of the shed findeth time, he pulleth the new, shiny, sharp, engine mower out into the sunshine. And the engine mower always gives me a haughty glance and hisses, “Thou art but scrap metal.” And then the Man moweth the grass.
And it was upon one of these occasions that I thought and said thus within myself, “Yea, what use is an old mower who doth not cut grass until pushed? And whose finish is rusted/ And whose blades are dulled? Verily, what good am I but for the scrap metal, because that the good Man of the shed hath gotten unto himself a new engine mower.”
And I pondered upon these thoughts.
Now it was that the Man had entered into a Competition that was to determine who in Town had the nicest yard. And the judging was to be completed upon the following Saturday.
Now it was that the Man was a Wise Man and so he planned to cut his grass early upon the morning of the Competition and to rake up the clippings thereof so that the Judges would not get any upon their garments.
But upon the Morning of the Competition, the Man’s engine mower had an illness of the engine, and could not cut grass. And the Man was sad, and exceedingly sorrowful. And it was that after much contemplation he said unto himself, “I shall have to use my old mower.”
And thus it came to be that the Man came unto the dirty, messy corner where I abode, and he took me and said unto me, “If though wilt cut my grass well, I will shine thee, sharpen thee, use thee to cut the tight spots in my lawn, and set thee in a place of honour beside my engine mower.”
Then he took me into the yard, and he pushed, yea, he pushed as though his life’s worth was measured thereby, and I cut the grass.
And when we were finished, he set me upon the porch, and he raked the clippings in the same manner that he had pushed.
And so it was, when the Judges came and saw the Man’s yard, they proclaimed it to be the best of the best, and he won first prize.
And the Man hath kept his promise unto me, shined me, sharpened me, regularly uses me to trim the tight spots within his lawn and he hath put me in the place of honour beside the engine mower.
And we are friends, the engine mower and I, for he hath learned this important lesson, “And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” [Matthew 23:12 NKJV] RR