Stewards or Control Freaks

We live in a suburb. A middle-class suburb to be exact. As with any community there are sights and sounds that help you identify where you are. In the suburb, in summer, it is the sight of people working in their yards and the sounds of lawn mowers and weed trimmers. From 8 ish in the morning (don't want to wake the neighbors) till after sunset our subdivision is filled with the roar and hum of lawn care. Keeping the grass and weeds knocked down is a good thing. I for one do not relish the thought of being ambushed by some wild animal lurking in the tall grass when I go to take the trash out. So I have no issue with the mowing per se, it is the trimming that raises some questions. Why do those of us who live in the suburb feel the need to edge and hedge and manicure our lawns? Will something really, really bad happen to us if the grass does not stand at a 90 degree angle to the sidewalk?

My wife and I lived in Kenya for three years. They have grass there, and weeds. They too see the value in not having wild animals stalking them in their own front yards. Their solution is goats. The goats eat the grass in the yard. While they are eating they return to the soil a rich deposit of goat droppings, thus fertilizing the grass. And the best part? When the time comes they eat the goat. Try doing that with your John Deer! (BTW, roasted goat meat is very good). The downside is that goats don't really get into trimming or edging. Thus, the yards lack that suburban manicured feel.

Christians believe that God has made us, humans, stewards of the creation. It's God's world, we have to take care of it. Yet we, humans, have a bad habit of wanting to be the owners of this world rather than stewards. I wonder sometimes, what the suburban obsession with manicured lawns says about our relationship to God. Are we being good (perhaps OCD) stewards of the creation? Or does our attempt to make our yards so neat and orderly reflect a desire to control "our" world? I don't know. Just something to think about. I have to go now, the trimmer is calling.