HOW IS YOUR MAINTENANCE CULTURE?

A friend once likened women to cars. In his bid to give me a compliment, he compared me to his old mustang which only appreciates with age. He loves and treats this car with care because of how valuable it is to him. That compliment was very nice, and it came back to me as I meditated throughout the week on what I would like to blog about today. 

Most of us choose our cars based on functionality. I happen to be a fan of fast and furious, which translates to some form of luxurious cars with an affinity for speed. Yours could be as simple as a car that can get you around town, simple but special. Point is we all need cars. Even though we all don’t have it and some just can’t afford it. Cars are a necessity and because they are, they must be maintained.

If we must own cars, we must learn a maintenance culture. There are car engineers for repairs and overall maintenance who are designated experts who make their time available to fix what car owners cannot. The depth of this awareness of maintenance culture can save car owners from losing their cars to fatal damage. Neglecting to maintain a car will result in an eventual breakdown of the vehicle.

I’d like to establish that many of us are like that in our relationships. We acquire relationships, neglecting the need for maintenance and I must say, a breakdown is in sight. When we refuse to check our tires, the brakes, do the oil change, then it is only a matter of time, we’ll blow the transmission and the engine knocks.

I was a young girl who watched my dad closely in cleanliness and maintenance culture. Washing our dad’s BMW had to be the best chore ever. What a memory to have, but what a culture to learn from a father! I most definitely learned how to take care of my car from my dad. I now wax my car and do my own oil change because he showed me how to maintain a car. I must say I learned a lot of love from him as well. He honestly gave me that and I am super grateful for it.

At the time while we were young, we had no idea how to maintain a car. Though we wished we could drive one, some of us actually snuck behind our parents to drive their cars, but we had no idea how to maintain it. Truth is we were ignorant and maybe even too careless and were in no shape ready to handle a car!

Many of us in the place of prayer and supplication are like a child who requests a luxury car from his father which he has no idea how to maintain. The child wants it, wants to show it off to his friends, but has no idea that the car has a valve in the engine that could need replacement due to a damage. If this child is close to his father, the father would then teach him what he needs to know about the car’s maintenance. He would remind him of the oil change and probably arrange a cleaning schedule for him.

If this is in fact true, then understand that God is intentional about maintenance! Before He created/s anything, by account (please read the book of Genesis), we could see that He created/s a maintenance culture for all things created within six days. He makes sure the earth is watered and the trees are fed. And, when he saw the man, he created the woman to help maintain the man.

Woman, there is no other way to put it, you were created for the man. Like I said, the maintenance manual is needed to fully maintain any relationship. To properly balance this, Man, you could abuse the luxury of a woman if you are not ready to maintain one. 

To conclude the matter this week;

•      Are you ready to maintain what you’re asking for in prayer?
•      Device a maintenance plan through the help of the Holy Spirit. This could possibly be the reason we experience delay in prayer.
•      Relationships are to be maintained. If you have abused yours, you might need to take some time to learn how. Some of us mess up because we didn’t have it properly modeled to us. Ask the Lord to help you better prepare. 
•      Seek mentors who have modeled a proper maintenance culture. Talk is cheap! We should be walking bibles in maintenance.

Have a lovely week people.

Kemi Gwan.