At the beginning of last week, my daughter’s battery died in her car, and Mr. Handman (me) had to replace it. For me, a really not-so-handy man, a little task like changing a battery can become a significant task. This little task of changing a battery turned out to be more complex than any ordinary car. The task required some YouTubing. I was able to figure out how to get all the nuts loosened except for one. The YouTube video showed the tool to use, but I didn’t have the tool, so I tried everything else possible to get the nut off. Finally, I decided to spend the 20 minutes and money to go to the parts store to get the right tool. I came back and took me all of 20 seconds to remove the nut I had been working on for quite a while.
I spent way longer than I needed to on changing a car battery because I didn’t want to stop and get the right tool.
How many times have you spent way too long doing something because you knew the tool or tools you needed but would not stop to get them?
We don’t take the time to stop and get the tools we need for spiritual growth.
We don’t take the time to stop and get the tools we need for mental growth.
We don’t take the time to stop and get the tools we need for physical growth.
These are all parts of being a strong human, but just like me with the car battery, we try everything else first and waste time on all the wrong tools. We could have saved countless hours if we had just stopped and spent the time to get the right tools to accomplish our goals.
This week, my goal for each of us is to examine what we are doing to understand if we are not experiencing spiritual, mental, or physical growth because we need to use the right tools. If our answer is yes, and we are not, we must stop immediately and begin collecting the right tools for the job.
I was never going to get the bolt loosened without the right tool.
The same is true for each of us…we will never accomplish what we want until we get the right tool.
Your Friend,
Aaron