The Lawnmower

I give a talk in church nearly every month as a high council representative for the Killeen Texas Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The speaking assignments are determined by the stake presidency, so I know what my topic will be at least a month in advance. As soon as I finish speaking to one congregation, I begin pondering about the next topic.

Several times over the past couple of years the speaking assignments have helped me pause and reflect about how sometimes simple things in life can serve as analogies or be used to teach concepts. Next week I will be speaking about eternal marriage and yesterday I thought a lot about this doctrine as I worked on our lawnmower with Brandy's grandfather.

Last year I purchased our Briggs and Stratton lawnmower from Wal-mart. It wasn't the best mower they had but it was far from the worst. It has a 22-inch deck and is self propelled. I got a good deal on it because somebody had returned it. It was like buying a good used car. I left the store confident that this was the best lawnmower for me.

At first the mower worked great, and I was proud to have it. After a while, however, it began sputtering and would sometimes stop running after about 15 minutes of use. I began to think I made a mistake by purchasing something that was not brand new. What seemed like a good deal a year ago now seemed like a mistake.

It would have been irresponsible to give up on my mower so soon, so I consulted with a lawn care expert, my brother-in-law, and then changed the gasoline soaked air filter. That solved our problem, but only for about a month because the filter again became soaked with gas.

I was then faced with a modern-day dilemma that many people face in this age of mass production and technology. Do I bring it to a repair man or spend a few extra dollars and just start over again with a new, better mower? I brought our last mower to a repair shop, where I spent too much money, and it worked two more times, I think, before it died.

After consulting again with my favorite lawn care professional, I decided I was not going to give up on my mower. I would bring it to a different repair shop. Before I could leave my wife's grandmother called our house to, among other things, "aggravate me" (her words, not mine). When she found out what I was about to do, she volunteered Brandy's grandfather's services. He is a man who has fixed his own mowers in the past.

Even though Billy doesn't see well anymore, I decided to bring the mower to him first. I could serve as the eyes and he could be the brains.

The spark plug confirmed that there was too much gas being released. We pulled the filter assembly off, which exposed a small bowl where gas pooled. Inside the bowl was a float. Brandy's grandfather jiggled the float around a bit and we put everything back together again.

So far it is running like a champ, and I can't believe how easy it was to fix. I wish I would have taken it to him sooner.

As we were working on my mower, Billy told me a story from an earlier period of his life. He said he spoke to a friend who years ago was having a similar problem with his mower. The man was so frustrated that he mentioned to Billy that he was going to donate it to his church and purchase a new one.

Billy tried to convince the man that his mower was good and that it was close to working the way he wanted it to. The man, seeing Billy's interest in the mower, offered to sell it to him for $25.

Billy didn't feel comfortable buying the mower because he felt he would be taking away from the church. Billy finally ended up purchasing it when the man told him he would donate the $25 to the church.

The first time Billy used the mower it ran great for about 15 minutes before it suddenly died. Billy said he pulled the spark plug, put a car spark plug in the mower and it ran great for many, many years.

Not everybody is inclined to fix mowers. I'm grateful that yesterday I went to visit a seasoned man who is. Afterward I thought about his simple solutions and wondered why I couldn't have figured it out myself.

I guess that's the way it works with mowers and with some marriages. Sometimes a third party has solutions that can make all the difference in the world. I know that every good solution and remedy I have come across in my life has come from Heavenly Father. And His work much of the time is manifest through the works of others.

Thanks Billy for being handy with lawnmowers and helping me prepare for my talk on eternal marriage.