Life lessons from your car.

As some of you may.... or may not know, a few months ago I purchased my first vehicle, exciting right? 

What an understatement. 
Since purchasing my vehicle it has overheated approximately 15 (maybe 20) times, this is not an understatement. The thermostat housing (that was once non-existent) now is added and ready to go, any pipes that were broken now have no excuse to fail because they too have all been fixed and replaced, the heating system? Check. Possible leaking? Check. 
With all that has been fixed you would probably ask 'Wouldn't it just cost you less to just sell it...?" Maybe. 
I have looked underneath the hood of my car more than I think I've actually been inside of it driving. sad. 

Yesterday, during my second attempt to get back to Southern California after a few overheating fiascos,  my mind started searching for what all this could possibly mean. Maybe it just meant hey, dont buy cars off of craigslist because they might be crappy.
But, I am a strong believer in learning from every situation, and I just knew that with everything that was going on with my car that there MUST be a lesson here.
Patience?
Finally knowing the names of things inside a car?
Being able to not feel helpless when I am pulled over to the side of the freeway?
Maybe all of the above, but here is what I finally came to terms with....
I was SO excited and SO ready to finally have a car.
Once I had "enough" money, I searched for cars online for a week straight, everyday consistently. I was determined.
I realized now, that I rushed into this process of buying a car.
I can't help but wonder, if I had waited long enough to add more money to what I already had in order to purchase something really worth it, then what the results would be.
Instead, I let the hot money in my hand burn until I was convinced every car that I saw was a possibility.

This is no longer about a car, this is about life in general.
How many times do we rush into things out of excitement or eagerness?
and how many times is the end results of those situations actually wholeheartedly, beneficial? 
How many of those times end up being just one of those really good lessons that we keep in our back pocket of life knowledge?
We rush into things, create our own messes and for the moments that they are good we call them a blessing, we thank God for what he has done for us (but really we did it ourselves and we realize that when it finally blows up in our faces...yikes)
This is about patience, but really its simply about just sit down and wait. Trust that God has something in store for you that works, that was worth the wait and will probably be better than anything we could have attempted ourselves.

This is most applicable in relationships, they're new, exciting and fun but when we don't invest in them before, we don't truly know who or what we're getting ourselves into.
I really had no idea what type of experience the previous owner had with the car, I was ready to sign what I needed to sign and bounce. I should have sat down, talked with him about what driving the car felt like, what worries he may have about it, what has gone wrong with it before etc. I should have taken the time to get to know what I was getting myself into.
Because we are human beings, we have baggage things we have yet to acknowledge or sort out ourselves. We need to work out those kinks, tenderly and diligently. When we get into relationships the baggage from two ends meet, its extra messy and even more tough to work through but its possible. With patience, and the right amount of determination it is absolutely possible.

No more of this, "I should have just waited." 
Take the time to be intentional, to truly get to know what's going on.
When we dive head first, out of excitement and anxiousness, we move too fast, we dont have the time to truly think through what it is we're doing. We will overheat and burn out and not even remember what really happened.
This is in life, in relationships, in almost anything.

I will definitely have some stories to tell about my first car.
But having it now just makes me more excited for the goodness that I could and prayerfully will have in the future. It has taught me patience, it has given me opportunities to meet people I never ever thought I would meet like Gary and his friend on motorcycles, 60 year old Fernando who wants me to be his girlfriend and Anthony who says that maybe one day I could be his psychologist. 

At least I have some new stories and life lessons to put into my backpocket. 
Welp, that's all my ramblings for now.

Blessings on your day,