Maintenance Day

Today was a maintenance day for me. First stop, the chiropractor.

Having the flu a few weeks back, I ended up pulling a muscle in my back from throwing up. I didn't do anything about it, but the hectic pace of last week (and sitting at my laptop without proper back support on the sofa) caused my back to spasm a bit on Saturday afternoon shortly before the baby shower. Every time I would lower my head, pain would shoot down my back into my rib cage. Ouch! Also, picking up my knitting needles again doesn't exactly help when my back is already weak but I have been knitting like a fiend, working on the baby blankets for the new additions to our small group in April.

I was definitely over due for an adjustment so today I went to the chiropractor for maintenance. After a few quick clicks of the little "pogo-stick" type instrument and voila! I feel brand new... sort of! It'll hold me for another month or two!

After the chiropractor and a quick trip to the bank I headed to the Honda dealership for the next regular maintenance on my car. We're heading out on vacation next week so we wanted to make sure the car was in tip-top shape. While they worked on the car, I sat in the lounge and watched/listened to the lesson for our Ladies' Group bible study on my Mp3 player, making notes.

What struck me while listening to this study is how like my back and the car, I need regular maintenance in my spiritual life. Often times my life can get gunked up like the car engine needing to be flushed out, or it can get weak from misuse and I need to take my spiritual life in to the Master Mechanic for repairs.

I'm so grateful that God's "shop" is always open for me to bring my spirit in for a much needed tuning. When I slow down and sit with my Master, He brings calm and peace to my spirit. Without taking this time to have Him check my "engine", I have the tendancy to "break down" and that's when I become dangerous to myself, others and God's Kingdom. It is in those times of slipping back into old patterns and ways of thinking that I become much uglier inside. It is only with regular maintenance checks in my spiritual life, that I can hope to stay on track and run the race successfully.

So as I complete my "maintenance day", I am spending time with my Chief Mechanic, having Him look under my hood and fine tune the areas in my life that aren't running the way they should! How's your engine running?