High Mileage
I have a friend who is a car aficionado. He not only enjoys driving cars, but he is a student of how they are produced, manufactured, distributed and sold. I can say without exaggeration that he is a walking encyclopedia of the automobile industry. Consequently, whenever I have a car question, I ask him.
A few years ago my brother Jason purchased a Jaguar. I am not really a car guy, but something about that car piqued my interest. It was a stunning piece of machinery. So I called Daryl to solicit his views on whether he thought buying one was a a good investment. I forgot who I was asking. LOL. Daryl proceeded to give me a 45 minute disquisition on everything Jaguar.
Most of what he said was above my pay grade. But a part of his analysis has been circulating in my spirit. He said that when the Ford Motor Company bought Jaguar, the company made enormous strides. But then he quickly added that since the car is manufactured in England, the car presents some problems that even Ford has been unable to fix. He went on to say that buying a Jaguar, or any other car manufactured in England is a terrible investment. Daryl concluded his analysis with a stinging, striking statement. He said: “I have no problem with people who drive British cars. I am impressed by their beauty, but I pity them for their maintenance. Once you buy a car, you gotta live with it, and no amount of beauty is worth that much maintenance.”
No amount of beauty is worth that much maintenance.
After our conversation, it occurred to me that many of us are just like English cars. We are beautiful, but we require a lot of maintenance. Many of us have beautiful teeth and beautiful smiles on beautiful faces, but we require a lot of maintenance. We wear beautiful clothes on beautiful bodies, but we require a lot of maintenance. We have beautiful resumes, but we require a lot of maintenance. Let’s be honest: a lot of us are high maintenance.
Question: Are you high maintenance?
To answer that question, let’s start with a definition. According to urbandictionary.com (yes, that’ a real dictionary LOL), a person who is high maintenance requires an excessive amount of time, money, energy, or attention. They enjoy drama, relish conflict and confusion, and are emotionally needy. They are difficult to please, and almost impossible to satisfy. I suppose all of us at some point in our lives have exhibited some of those characteristics. But some of us are far worse than others. But as my friend Darryl reminded me, no amount of beauty is worth that much maintenance.
The source of all high maintenance behavior is high-minded thinking. On 3 distinct occasions in the New Testament writings of the apostle Paul , we are warned against the dangers of being high-minded. In Romans 11:20, he tells new believers not to be “highminded, but fear.” In 1 Timothy 6:17 , Paul reminds his protege to “charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things. Then in 2 Timothy 3:4, Paul tells us that one sign that we are living in dangerous times is that people will be heady and highminded. The expression "high-minded” comes from a Greek word that means to lift the head up. And whenever I lift up my head, I have a tendency to look down on people, situations, and even opportunities. The first item on the list of things that God hates In Provebrs 6:16-19 is a “proud look.”
Here’s a thought: nothing may be wrong with your job, or your children, or your spouse, or your current situation. Your biggest problem might be how you are looking at it. When you are high minded, it distorts your perspective. My momma use to say “high mind, poor behind.” LOL. And I just don’t think that she was referring to economics. Having a high mind impoverishes you on almost every level of living.
To extend this car analogy just a little further, too many of us have too much mileage to be too high maintenance. In the car industry, a high mileage car makes you less valuable. But in the realm of human relationships, being high mileage makes you more valuable—because it makes you more compassionate, understanding, and tolerant of others.
We all have been in some accidents, all have a few nicks and scratches on our our exterior, and all have some rust on our bumpers. When you’ve been on the road of life a little while, you accumulate some miles. And the more miles you rack up, the more humble you should become. You should become much more tolerant of the accidents that other people have been in—because you’ve been in a few accidents yourself. You should become much more understanding of the nicks and scratches on other people’s exterior—because you have a few nicks and scratches on your own exterior. And you should become much more gracious about the rust on other people’s bumpers-because you realize you have some rust on your own bumper.
When you know you are high mileage, you can’t afford to be high maintenence.