For the past two years the task of Fall cleanup has fallen solely on my shoulders. We have many maples and oaks and so we have MANY leaves. If I wait to clear the yard all at once, the piles of leaves stretch about 25ft in length by 10 ft wide and are well over my waist…which is much too big of a task for me to handle alone, so I usually break the job up into pieces.

Last year I was able to borrow an electric leaf blower and it really cut the job time down quite a bit from previous years using only a tarp and rake. My yard isn’t enormous, but it is generous in size, and raking it took about two weeks working at it a few hours each day. Using the electric leaf blower did help some, but I still needed to clear the yard in stages since it really isn’t all that powerful of a blower.

This year my dad bought a new gas powered leaf blower. It’s pretty and it’s powerful. It is basically like the hemi of engines in the yard tools world (especially when compared to it’s predecessor: the electric blower). Long story short my dad let me borrow it for my yard this year. Yay (and drool, I kind of love power tools/equipment).

I got it home and popped it on to give it a whirl. After using it for an hour and a half my yard was pretty much clear. I was super impressed! I was even able to clear away parts of the yard that had not been seen in years because of the mess that had been left over time. For about 5 years leaves had been dumped in a big hollow in the yard and they had decomposed into little bits and pieces you could not rake. This hollow was a place I one day hoped there might be a fire pit. Using the blower these decomposed areas were eradicated with ease; this thing packs some serious power.

I really was so excited as I saw the bare ground begin to become exposed once again. Where a pile of old leaves and brush had once lived (because no one wanted to deal with the mess that was there), new life started to spring up. Among the fresh dirt there were tiny patches of plants beginning to grow under the decaying yard waste. I could slowly begin to picture the fire pit I had longed for become a reality with each sweeping pass of the blower taking away the old piles bit by bit.

I stood back and marveled at my cleared lawn and couldn’t help but think of how God works in our own lives much this way. He turns up the old piles we neglect to expose new fresh soil that is ripe for new growth. He clears away the clutter leaving room for the new growth to be fruitful. He cuts back the brush piles and overgrowth so that the beauty of His handiwork can be clearly seen. If you step back and look at the parts you have allowed God to work on, you will surely see growth there in the most magnificent of ways. In Christ, we are made new.

I was thinking of how the leaf blower can be like the Bible. Follow me here…. What if I had borrowed the leaf blower from my dad, brought it home, set it on the lawn, and waited. What if I reported back to my dad with dismay that his great tool didn’t work at all on my lawn. What if I told him it didn’t do a thing and the lawn was still a mess of leaves and took it back to him upset because it didn’t work for me the way I thought it should have? What if the error wasn’t in the leaf blower, but it was my misunderstanding of how it works?

When we don’t understand God’s work, or even worse we don’t read God’s word, we cannot expect it to change our lives. Just like we need to start the leaf blower in order for it to work, we need to dig into scripture for God to work in our lives. We need to press in and understand it in order for it work work as well. Just reading scripture without applying it will leave us unchanged.

I realize this is a lot of talk about a yard and a leaf blower and if you are still with me here then ten points for you! Seriously though let’s work on keeping one another encouraged to dig in, get dirty, and let God do the ultimate clean up in our hearts. He can turn old into new if we are willing. He can break the bonds and chains that have been holding you back for your entire life if you will just ask Him to. His power is incredible and it is just waiting for you to humble yourself and seek Him. I can’t tell you it will be easy, but I can tell you that God is able, and with Him you will prevail over any bondage. You can trust Him.

2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away, behold, new things have come.”

Psalm 19:7-11 “The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul. The decrees of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple.”

Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow; able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Even with a great leaf blower, clearing the yard was a lot of work. Honestly if you didn’t already know I worked so hard on it, you might not even be able to tell because it is very much a messy work in progress; this is exactly what the process of beauty from ashes is like. It takes time. It takes patience. It takes a willing heart. Even when progress is being made, others might not notice it until the work is complete, keep going! Don’t grow discouraged, keep pressing in. It is always worth it. You are worth it.

If you haven’t yet, let God in.

“Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.” Revelation 3:20

God, we are so thankful for your restoring power. We are in awe of what you can make new. We know that the effort put in will be met with a reward of new growth and that seeking you will always prove fruitful. Your ways are not always clear to us, but we trust you. Help restore the places in our lives that are filled with brush and overgrowth. Make them into places that will showcase your glory! Your handiwork is amazing and cannot be outdone and so we lay our lives in your mighty hands. Use us as you see fit. Continue to grow, shape, and mold us to be more like your Son. Thank you for His death on the cross which took the place for our sins. In Jesus name, amen.