It's Time for Life Maintenance

"Out of sight, out of mind." That saying rings so true with me. If I don't put a task in my task manager, I forget about it. If I don't write down the list of groceries, I inevitably miss something. If this is how it is with tangible things, how much more is that saying true about our the intangible areas of our lives? So much of who we are and what we think about is never seen and often unacknowledged. That's where life maintenance comes in. I like to maintain my own cars as much as I can. I'm not great at mechanical things, but I have learned from my dad and from reading repair manuals how to check fluids, change my oil and brakes, rotate my tires, and even change a starter and a radiator (once each).

Little Issues Turn into Big Issues

Here's the story about the radiator replacement: I was adding some oil in our SUV. When I took the oil cap off, I accidentally dropped it down into the car. Dismayed, I tried my best to reach down to grab it, but I couldn't see it. It had apparently landed on the underbody tray that I couldn't remove easily. So I said to myself, "Well, it'll just fall out eventually. I'll just replace the oil cap and be done with it."

Several days later, I started to hear a kind of fluttering, pinging sound coming from the car whenever it ran. I was confused and didn't make the connection. I hoped that it would just go away. A few days later, I got a call from Angela. She was stranded on Route 15 with our 2-year-old daughter, the car having overheated. The oil cap that I thought would have fallen out had instead been pinging around between the fan and the radiator, putting about 50 holes in it. The coolant had then leaked out and the car wasn't drivable. After a lengthy process of getting the car towed to my dad's house, I set about replacing the radiator.

It cost me $250 for parts and two and a half days of misery working on the car to replace the radiator. Thankfully, it has worked well ever since. However, I always look back on that day and think, "If only I had just bit the bullet and done the work to take the $5 cap out!"

Life Maintenance

When's the last time you opened up the hood of your life and poked around? Have you ever seen some broken pieces in there and thought, "Well, it'll get better eventually", "It's just too painful to deal with", or, "It's not a big deal." I can guarantee from personal experience that it's much less costly to you to face your issues head on.  Don't just say "Out of site, out of mind." Issues in your life will grow and rattle around in your heart, ready to puncture your soul. Take the time to fix them.

Don't just say “Out of site, out of mind.” Issues in your life will grow and rattle around in your heart, ready to puncture your soul. Take the time to fix them.

This isn't some sort of passive examination where you go, "Oh ya, I see that issue." It's a matter of identifying the issues and then dealing with them. In agriculture in ancient times, the equivalent of a oil cap in a radiator is a fox in a vineyard. They would spoil the crops by the way they stole the grapes. The author of the Song of Songs uses this an analogy for nipping issues in the bud:

Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom.” - Song of Songs 2:15 ESV

In other words, you have issues in your life that are preying on your fruitfulness and damaging your soul. Go get them! Catch them! Take them down!

So how do we set about doing this? Here are some suggestions I have for life maintenance:

Build Friendships that Build You

Friendships have always been a challenge to me. It's difficult to find people who you feel comfortable with while at the same time are challenged to be a better person. It's a difficult balance to strike. However, it is a must. You need to have those people in your life who will give advice, comfort, and some good ol' fashioned correction. I don't have time to discuss how to go about finding those kind of people in this post, but I want to impress upon you the importance of starting that journey.

Go to Counseling

Yes, I said counseling. People don't seem to like to talk about it, as if it was a sin to do it. We have people we go to for help with our teeth, skin, bones, children, and illnesses. Why is it so taboo to go to a professional for help with our thoughts and lives? Angela and I have go separately and together during different phases of our lives and we are so much better for it. My advice: Always go to a strong Christian counselor. They're partnering with you to help you in a crucial part of your life. Make sure that they are grounded in biblical beliefs. I recommend asking for referrals to a great counselor from your friends or church leaders.

Ask the Holy Spirit for Help

I put this one last since I want it to stick most with you. The Holy Spirit is our ultimate guide. He is the one who ultimately is at work when we are digging around our souls. Let him in. Ask him to show you where you need to work on things. Ask him to give you the strength to forge ahead in your journey.

For a related post on how I applied the idea of life maintenance and defeated pornography, click here.

For posts on understanding your emotions and working with them to live a holy life, click here and here.

Question: What stuck out to you about this post? Do you have any stories where you can relate about your own life maintenance? Let me know in the comments!