My wife and I were mowing the lawn, taking turns pushing the mower.

We don’t usually do this together but today she asked if I would like her to help.

A hour or so before we started I had written in my prayer journal that I wanted to mow the lawn joyfully. My wife apparently picked up on this.

As she was taking a turn at mowing the yard, I noticed she didn’t follow the pattern I follow.

Ego said, “She’s not doing this the right way.”

Me to Ego, “Shut up.”

It then flooded in on me that I’m not a landscape person anyway and would just as well prefer that we pave the yard over. The only reason I mow is that the city frowns on tall grass.

Ego tried to engage me in an issue I really don’t care about.

The task was joyous.