Look. Look. See Spot. See Spot Ruin! Ruin, Spot, Ruin.

My lawn grows shaggy.

Leaves litter our front yard.

I have not mowed the grass since before Thanksgiving.

But I have an excuse.

Our great neighbor, Rex, lets me use his lawnmower because I broke mine when I attempted to mulch a horseshoe that was buried in the sand in my yard for decades. Horseshoes don’t mulch. Anyhow, I borrow Rex’s lawnmower whenever my grass gets too high.

Rex’s dog, Spot, protects their home from suspicious characters like meter readers, postmen, trash collectors — and neighbors wanting to use the lawnmower.

Spot, a miniature collie no higher than my daughter’s Chihuahua, guards his domain like an ankle-high King Kong.

He barks mightily to chase me away when I go over to get the mower — until I scratch his ears, then he turns into a wiggling, fuzzy ball of jelly.

Spot likes to chew things. He will chew anything. He will reduce an aluminum drink can into tiny shreds of metal. And woe be to any plastic toy kids may leave in the yard. Spot chews everything in reach.

Just before Thanksgiving, Rex went out to mow his grass and found that Spot had chewed the lawnmower’s starter cord handle to bits. Without the handle, the spring-loaded mechanism swallowed the length of cord into the guts of the mower.

Rivets held the housing in place so to rewind the cord, Rex would have to drill out the rivets, replace the starter cord, buy a rivet gun, and replace the whole mechanism.

He decided it was less trouble just to buy a new lawnmower.

He used it one time.

He cut his grass and mine (I told you he is a great neighbor) about a month ago.

Yesterday, I went over to borrow Rex’s new lawnmower to cut my own grass again.

Guess what.

Yes, Spot has chewed the handle off the starter cord of the brand new lawnmower!

I think Spot may be in trouble when Rex comes home from work.

The kind of trouble that cuteness won’t get you out of.

So, my yard looks shabby because I have not cut my grass — but I have a good excuse.

Funny thing about excuses: Whenever we excuse ourselves about not doing something, by definition, we have admitted that there exists a standard which we have failed to meet, a moral law that we have broken. Other than that, there is no reason to ever offer an excuse for anything.

By the same token, whenever we accuse someone else of doing us dirt, then we also admit the existence of a standard, a moral law, which the other person should have met but didn’t. If they had done nothing wrong, then we’d have no reason to accuse them.

The Scripture speaks of certain people, “Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another; in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ…”

So whether I excuse myself, or accuse someone else, I have admitted the existence of God’s law, a law I have broken. And I admit that Judgment Day lies ahead. I admit that I stand in need of God’s mercy.

Heavy stuff.

So my yard looks shabby. My grass grows high. My lawn disgraces the whole neighborhood…

But I have an excuse!

The dog ate my lawnmower.