Short answer: $7,000.

Sitting around the house a few weeks ago, wearied a little from having to mow twice a week because, well, Spring, and fertilizer, and rain, I began to think about getting a new lawn tractor that could mow in summer and blow snow in winter. I dreamed some about being able to be seated while battling the huge piles of wet snow that block my driveway every winter. Each year it gets a little harder to move that stuff with my compact walk behind snow blower. I get cold, I get winded. My wife watches anxiously from the living room window when I’m out there, hoping I won’t have a heart attack.

So I began to rationalize. (That’s when you pile up reasons for getting something that you want anyway. Make a long enough list and – Boom! – you bite the bullet and buy that convertible.) (I digress.) My riding lawn mower is 17 years old. My “trim mower”, a walk behind, is 15 years old. My compact snow blower is 12 years old.

So naturally, I asked my golf buddies, over a cheeseburger and beer, “Should an 80 year old guy spend $5,000 on a new lawn tractor?” The wisest of them said, “If you can buy it without having to change your lifestyle then go for it.” Dang! He had to qualify it! Church elders are like that. That’s what I get for golfing with friends who are all church elders.

I asked my wife, and of course she automatically said “No!”. I asked my brother-in-law whose tractor is about 40 years old. He offered me to use of it since he now pays someone to cut grass and move snow. He thought the purchase might be unwise.

Undaunted, I searched the internet, and found that Simplicity was offering nice rebates and financing for their machines. I applied online for their credit card, and was immediately approved for up to $8,000. (See me adding that to the rationalization list: Zero interest! Up to 36 months to pay!)

I asked my Wednesday morning breakfast buddies (elders or deacons all) and they were unhelpful. Can’t a guy get a little encouragement around here?

One day last week I went to the Simplicity dealership. As I parked the car and prepared to go in, I did one final consultation. Before I went inside, I bowed my head and asked my gracious heavenly Father to aid me in this decision.

There it was, a shiny red-orange Simplicity lawn tractor with a 48 inch mower deck. This one even had shocks and springs to make the ride “25% easier on your back”. I told the guy about what I had and what I wanted. He immediately went to his computer and began to look stuff up. Clicking keys, serious expression, more clicks, never saying a word. Finally he said, “ For that machine and the snow blower, chains and weights you’re looking at $7,000.” He never mentioned rebates or free financing; just, “you’re looking at $7,000.”

I decided I did not want to look at that at all. So I went home and sharpened the blades on my little lawn mower. In the fall, I’ll find someone to plow out the driveway (Hey! Gary Fultz! Do you travel out of state to do snow plowing?) I have received yet another lesson in how to live content with what I have.

Oh no! I just saw a guy drive past my house in a Miata convertible!

1 Timothy 6:6-8 (ESV) But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.