Time for A Tune-Up

Back in the day if your car was running a bit sluggishly, it was time to get a tune-up…. take it in for new points & plugs, change the oil and filter, lube job, perhaps a new set of tires, top it off with a nice wash and wax job. As you drove it home from the shop , you could feel the difference… new pickup, quieter ride… almost like new. (You may have already discerned that I don’t have a Tesla.) 

I’ve been feeling a bit sluggish lately and today I went for a “spiritual tune-up” to the beautiful Shrine near my home. I started with Confession. As I chugged and sputtered into the confessional, I had a serious look on my face…. yet as I left the confessional, I had a smile on my face. In fact, a guy in line noticed it and made a comment about Mother Teresa always encouraging her sisters to smile, to have joy…who wants to be a Christian if everyone is glum. I commented that if you could film the confessional line, you see a glum face going in, and a happy face coming out. It’s generally true. 

My penance was to pray Psalm 39….a psalm of David. It’s a powerful psalm. Listen to these excerpts:  “….. LORD, let me know my end, and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is! Behold, thou hast made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing in thy sight. Surely every man stands as a mere breath! Surely man goes about as a shadow …..and now, Lord, my hope is in thee…. hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry…. for I am thy passing guest, a sojourner, like all my fathers …. that I may know gladness….”. (Ps. 39) 

At first glance the psalm can seem a bit dreary, yet the words are true… it’s truth that helps me focus on eternity, on my ultimate destiny. My problems arise when I try to build my home on the sand of this earthly life. All earthy treasure is at best fleeting. This psalm calls me to build my house on the ROCK of eternal life in Christ… all the rest is like sand seeping thru my hands, even when I try to hold it tight. 

So, this old car is running a lot better since I took it in for a tune-up. To keep it running well, I need to keep my prayer going strong, I need to put good “high octane gas” in the tank…. only Holy Spirit empowered fuel. 

Okay, I think I’ve squeezed all I can out of the “tune-up analogy”. But the “moral of the BLOG” is to turn to the Lord at all times…whether feeling great or feeling lousy and you will one day roll into heaven with a big smile on your face. And that is very good news.