There it is! The football is still there! It has been lying on that lonely, small patch of grass for almost a year. Whoever takes care of mowing that area has mowed around that object and left it undisturbed. The football has started to come apart after weathering numerous Florida rainstorms. No one has decided to throw it into the trash bin, despite the fact that there is a nearby town sign discouraging littering. The football sits there day and night, seemingly as a monument to procrastination or stubborn littering. Whoever first put it there will undoubtedly not come back for it.

That football brings to mind certain things about our human condition. Any of us could have a prejudice or grudge against another person, and that impediment could hang around for a very long time. We might not even remember what started the problem. Other life experiences and relationships could be running along very smoothly and seem very happy. That tainted feeling that we feel for a particular person could actually be wearing out, but we are not paying attention.

In the Lord’s Prayer, we ask God to “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Maybe we should think about those little parentheses we put around certain people and start the business of forgiving those who have trespassed. Our football may be a little apology or attitude adjustment we should make to someone else.

I have heard of long-standing grudges in families. Sometimes a grudge can be almost a legacy that is perpetuated as a “family thing.” Other times, we might have a falling out with another person who has moved away. We may not see the person, so the bad feeling has never been resolved. That little football on the green does not take up much space, but it is still there!

Whatever our own little football may be, it is probably time to throw it away. It may be helpful to pray with Colossians 3:12-15:

   Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion,

   kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and

   forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord

   has forgiven you, so you must also do. And over all these put on love, that

   is, the bond of perfection. And let the peace of Christ control your hearts, the

   peace into which you were also called in one body. And be thankful.

A man who lives four houses up the street from us likes to plant tomatoes. He doesn’t plant them in his side yard but instead on his paved driveway in a row of 18 buckets equipped with tall stakes. When my husband and I take our neighborhood walks, we can watch the progress of this gent’s bucket garden.

 I do not know of another driveway bucket brigade such as my neighbor’s, but I do admire this man’s systematic method of procuring his summer harvest! He must be diligent about watering his plants and caring for them, as they grow, inch by inch, tomato by tomato.

As we endeavor to get back to some semblance of a normal routine as the pandemic appears to be letting up, we, like the tomato gardener, should try to be methodical. Step by step, we might ease up on our zealous sanitizing, masking, and distancing, while being forgiving of those who have made mistakes in predictions and advisories.

Lessons we have learned during the pandemic can help us in our everyday material and spiritual lives. For sure, it is a good idea to proceed daily, step by step, and not leap by leap. We know we can depend on God each day to help us. In Lamentations 3:22-23 we read:

       The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,

       his mercies never come to an end;

       they are new every morning,

       great is your faithfulness.