“It’s rusting underneath,” my mechanic said recently after changing the oil and rotating the tires on my 1991 Camry. “I’d say you have a year, but I wouldn’t push it to two.”
My ex and I bought the car used from a Cincinnati area dealer in 1998 after I’d been rear-ended outside work, totaling the vehicle I had been driving. I’ve now had the “mighty Camry,” as my sister calls it, longer than any other car in my life.
In the intervening fifteen years, the Camry and I have been through a lot together, 
including my divorce and move to the Washington, DC area. The Camry went from getting your typical 10,000 miles a year workout to less than a thousand some years. Since 2004, I’ve bought one set of tires, had the alarm system removed because it finally gave out, and had the air conditioning redone because they no longer make the original coolant.
I’m grateful for the car’s longevity and for the fact I’m in a place financially where I can buy a good used car with cash. And yet, I’m also a bit sad. I know this car and its quirks. I know what it’ll do in rain and snow, and when I need to brake. Getting a different car will require me to be attentive.
Our spiritual lives can be the same, reciting the prayers and singing the hymns without giving much thought to the words behind them. It takes effort to make a change, to stop and listen and think.
This Lent, there are a number of changes I hope to turn into habits, including an end to time wasted on games and a repurposing of that time into prayer and my writing ministry. It may be good practice for this fall, when I’m learning the grooves of a different car. I know it will be help me get some of the rust out of my spiritual life.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Ah, the repurposing of time wasted on games into prayer and ministry . . . how did you know I needed to hear that? May the Holy Spirit continue to fill, guide, and use you as you minister to others through your writing–and everything you do! Thank you for sharing. May I be as honest as you when I look into my own life.
Michele, your blog post about realizing what mattered to you was winning, not playing, is what made me examine what I was doing and decide to use games as part of my fast! Love it when God helps us go full circle, don’t you?
Another awesome post, Mel. Change for me is redirecting my life from rescuing others to rescuing myself. I am not good at that. Lent is a good time to find that groove.
Amen! Because at the end of the day, we can only rescue ourselves, and even that only with our Lord’s help.