The Bald Goat

The air is getting warmer, the birds are singing and the grass is green and growing. Good news for us lawn care professionals! I have been giving a lot of bids lately for lawn care service. We are one of many lawn care companies in Abilene. I don’t want to speak badly of anyone providing services because this is a hard, sweaty, dirty job and I respect anyone who is willing to work hard for an honest day’s wages.

There is truth in the phrase “you get what you pay for” when talking about many things in life and one of those things is lawn care. God’s Care Lawnscapes is not the cheapest in town and at the same time it is not the most expensive. I am proud to be a part of this company and believe we work hard to care for the property and the people we serve. We are competitively priced and we offer services to our customers that give value to the price they are paying us.

But not everyone feels that way. When someone will do the work for cheaper they are often tempted to save money. This sometimes happens. Sometimes things work out and other times we get customers returning because they found out they were unfortunately “getting what they paid for.” Our lawn care prices may seem high if you don’t value the service being provided.

There was a phrase used in the message this past Sunday at church that has stuck with me all week. David McQueen said, “Something is extravagant only if you don’t value what is being celebrated.” He talked about Mary pouring expensive perfume on Jesus (Mark 14:1-9) and how no one could understand what she had done. They all thought it was a waste…everyone except Jesus. He could see where her values were and she was celebrating Jesus and he was precious to her. Her actions may have seemed extravagant, over the top, too much to everyone else, but to Mary it was right in line with her value of the Messiah.

Mary offered a bottle of perfume to Jesus to celebrate him only 3 days before his death on the cross. McQueen speculated that it is possible that as Jesus was being whipped he might occasionally get a whiff of that perfume still on his body. Or hanging on the cross he might smell the scent as the breeze blew across his skin. Even in the midst of the pain and torture he could smell the aroma of the sacrifice that was given to celebrate his relationship with Mary. In a moment like that, with the smell of Mary’s sacrifice on the air, I can imagine Jesus was reminded that the value of God’s children are worth his extravagant sacrifice.

When what we value causes us to celebrate with our lives, people often won’t understand. They will think we are going too far. That we sacrificed too much. I know I have used much from the message given this past Sunday, but it really resonated with me. I will steal one last line from the benediction:

May we live with such extravagance for Jesus that people can’t help but say, “They wasted their lives for Jesus.”

Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents.

Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us.

Love like that.

~Ephesians 5:1-2 MSG