“A Meditation on a Car, A Fast-Food Parking Lot, A Pair of Eyes and a Cup”

This meditation may have started with “So what do a …all have in common?  But that would have ruined the ending.

About a month ago my car wouldn’t start.  I’d had problems recently turning the key in the ignition so that was my 1^st guess. After 2 days of hunting down Key codes (which is no easy task with a 30-year-old Lexus!) and having 2 keys made (1 turned out to be wrong!), the car still wouldn’t start.  Next it was towed to a garage and, 1 week later, I was called with the news that they’d gotten it started.  Turns out it was something called a clutch switch, which I didn’t even know existed and was no longer made (Remember it’s a 30-year-old car), that they bypassed so that the car would start if I depressed the clutch.  But the backstory is that, for some time now, I’d lamented the fact that my car needs a paint job and doesn’t look as good on the outside as I’d like.  Never mind if it stops running (the engine is, overall, still in good shape).

A couple of weeks ago, I was in a hurry to get to work and was going to stop by a fast food restaurant nearby for lunch.  Never mind that their service has been, shall we say, subpar for quite some time.  They were closed to tar the parking lot so, impatient as usual, I sped on to work.  Last Friday at work I decided to try them again because I was in a hurry.  When I pulled up to the drive thru they said I’d have to come in because they were short staffed.  Having experienced their service inside on many occasions I decided to try another place.  “That’s it, never again!” I exclaimed to myself for about the 20^th time in the last few years.  But the parking lot looked great!

I have been struggling with insomnia for the last several weeks.  Last week when I came to work “The Boss” said I looked really tired.  Not surprising since I’d already mentioned a few times that I was still awake at 4 and 5am most mornings.  I immediately went into the bathroom and came face to face with my swollen, baggy eyes which I’d tried to avoid obsessing over.  Then, earlier this week, I learned that it might be anxiety that’s causing the insomnia. But I’ve been much more concerned about how I look on the outside and not about what may be going on inside.  Are you starting to get the picture?  Let Jesus help put all this in perspective:

Matthew 23

²⁵ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. ²⁶ Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.”

Enough said…

Grace and Peace,

Dennis