It's all maintenance

In life and my "adult" years, I've learned at least one very important thing - it's all maintenance.

For example, this past week I got sick and was battling it almost every day. I even had to resort to actually taking some medicines, which for me is quite unusual! Whether it was the normal trouble I have with my allergies this time of year, or the effects from a common cold, or a nasty virus I caught, or a combination of all of these, my body was screaming at me to slow down, take some time to relax, monitor what I was eating, get some additional sleep, and think about where I was going (and whether I even needed to be there, etc.). You see, in my foolish haste to take care of so many really important things (?), I had been moving along much too fast in life and hadn't really been taking very good care of my body. You can sometimes get away with that for awhile, but sooner or later without some day-to-day, routine "maintenance" for our bodies, our health will go bad (and get a lot worse) until we stop and take care of the mess we've made and/or get rid of the germs we've collected. It's all maintenance.

Yesterday was another example of how it's all maintenance.

There was the morning shower and overall scrub up to get clean (and hopefully stay a bit healthier). There was the bill paying and managing of our household finances. There was the interactions and conversations I had with my sweet wife to make sure that we were staying connected and on the same page with all the things happening in our lives/family. There was the long overdue oil change for my car and the cleaning it so badly needed for the outside. There was the taking of our personal computer from home in to the store for repairs because it had gotten a bad virus and was completely screwed up. There was the nice lunch I had with my oldest son who I hadn't really had a long, one-on-one, thoughtful conversation with for weeks. There was the haircut I got because the hairs on my head (albeit fewer today than in the past) needed trimming. There was the "catch-up" time with my 14 year old son (while his mother is out-of-town for several days) going to see a movie together and then spending an evening at home enjoying each other's company. There was the cleaning, straighening up and putting dishes away that needed to be done before turning in for the night last night. It's all maintenance.

Tomorrow (Monday) it will be more maintenance. Talking with my boss and staying connected with what he needs/wants me to be doing. Turning in expense reports from last week's travels so that I don't get behind on reimbursements. Meeting with employees that work for me at lunch who have had to get by without much direction from me for the last week or so while I've been trying to recover from my ailments and/or preoccupied with other activities/projects. Catching up on all the other things that have piled up in my e-mail while busy with a project and/or traveling last week. It's all maintenance.

Yes, in life it's all maintenance. But, the most significant "item" to maintain by far is my relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Just like everything else in life, if I don't actively maintain this relationship, it can get stale or sick or suffer greatly. And frankly, if you get out-of-whack in this relationship, nothing else really works very well either. You cannot ignore any relationship and expect it to flourish, especially not the one with Jesus. Relationships take time. They take listening. They take studying and learning. They take conversations. They take looking back and looking forward.

Just as I unfortunately allowed myself to get too busy and move in way too many seemingly important directions (and/or be involved in way too many seemingly important activities), I eventually had to pay for it by getting sick. Then it became a huge deal to "correct" that situation so that I could just get back to where I needed to be. If we don't maintain, we pay. And sometimes that payment is way more trouble/work/effort than if we had just taken care of things properly all the way along.

You can kid yourself into believing something else if you want, but I've learned that in this life it's all maintenance.