The Impossible Task

Looking out at what was in front of me, the task seemed impossible.

My only help, an old small lawnmower. All I needed to do was mow the yard. Simple task, yet it seemed impossible. The grass was up to my waist and the lawnmower would barely move against the density. Needless to say, I was not excited to do this job.

The property was unoccupied, unused, uncared for and ignored. And it was going up for sale. The most basic task to bring the property back to life was mow the lawn. Tend the garden, if you will. And that was my job. I did my job, and learned a valuable lesson.

Facing this challenge, I had a choice to make. Figure it out or wait until the day was done and make an excuse why this one simple job was unfinished. I chose to figure it out. I started the mower and pushed ahead, only to make it a few inches before the mower bogged down and the engine stopped. Already, too much resistance to allow the blades to move freely. I was stuck and wasting daylight

Frustration was mounting quickly, as progress was appearing nonexistent. I had so little done, so many problems, and so much more to do. Several times I would stop and try to think my way out of it. More wasted time. If only I had a scythe or a tractor or a different lawn to mow. The task remained, unchanged.

After toiling away at this massive undertaking, a pattern emerged. Push the handlebars down to lift the front, move forward half the length of the mower, slowly lower the front back to ground level to give the mower time to chew through the verdure. Pull back then move forward again. Like hungry hungry hippos. It was a repeatable process and it was working.

Too bad I did not want to take action, I wanted to be done. As the boredom of steady progress set in, so did my frustration that the task was not as efficient as it could be. Problem was, neither of those had to do with the task. The task remained, unchanged. The work was simple. I wanted efficient.

I never got the efficiency I wanted, and I never had to make an excuse why the job was not done. As the day concluded, I stood there looking at this freshly mowed lawn with a small sense of pride for committing to do the work. Faith in the process that got the job done a little at a time. That is what it takes to do the impossible. Semper Fieri