Fuel is Essential

The experience as we were getting ready for sabbath today taught me a few things, one of them being the obvious fact that: fuel is essential. While this applies to things that use fuel, I found that it also, logically, applies to spiritual things as well.

So, I'm on a big car journey to a lovely holiday in paradise that lasts for over a whole year! Everyday I embark on yet another long leg of the journey, looking at the scenery, dodging cars, trying to keep under the speed limit and all the usual that are associated with long car drives.

Today was just another day, lots of hours of driving ahead. I got in the car and set off for the journey. The car was going great at first, but pretty soon it started to show some signs of having trouble. Things were starting to fail, going on and off, eventually the engine itself was cutting out and coming back again. I was getting rather annoyed at the thing, thinking it was slacking, being annoying or something negative. Pretty soon I was bashing the dashboard with anger as I was seriously just getting absolutely no where. Eventually the car stopped altogether; very angry, I got out of the car checked the engine, fiddled around, to no avail. Checked the tires, the exhaust and all that. Then it struck me; I was so eager to get into the journey, that I didn't  fill up the tank before starting to drive! I checked the fuel gauge and and sure enough, the meter was on zero! I went to the boot and got out a big bottle of petrol, I then spent a few minutes filling the car up and it was up and running smoothly once again.

I sat there thinking to myself, "Man, I would've got a lot further a long the journey if I had just stopped to refuel." I laughed and kept going, having a happy feeling that my engine was running and I was once again zooming down the road.

Now you might be able to tell how this translates onto our daily life. I'm on a big life journey, to heaven and I'm going to be up there for a millennium (more than a year = 1000 days = 1000 years). Everyday I embark on yet another long leg of the journey, doing a lot of the usual things associated with life.

Today was just another day, lots of hours of doing stuff is ahead. I woke up, rubbed my eyes and started the day. The day was going great at first, but pretty soon my mood was starting to go a bit south. I was getting more angry as time went on, yelling at things when they wouldn't go the way I wanted. Eventually I had to stop altogether, and what was going wrong. Then it struck me, I hadn't filled up my spiritual tank by praying and reading something spiritual in the morning. I went back, and spent some time in prayer and reading and then went back to what I was doing.

After this I thought about what had happened. I would've got a lot further in the day if I had just spent a little time in prayer and reading in the morning, before doing anything else. I've noticed that when I do this, my day is a lot more productive and I get so much further than I would've if I hadn't. Satan gets me to think that I need to get straight into the day, so I can get more done, knowing that I have a rather busy time everyday. But if I listen to this, it will only end up being that I do less, because I do not have as much of the spirit of Jesus helping me to do the things that need to be done, to learn more, to work more, to have a clear mind, and overall to fit more into the day.

I have learned that is essential to fill up your tank at the beginning in the day before starting to drive, rather than when you run out on the road.