Them Two Nails

Thank GOD for half term breaks! It means I can attend the morning prayers at church and that was my plan this past Wednesday morning at 7 am. As I drove out, I felt like I had to drag my car to move and the steering wheel was listening to “to the left, to the left“! I dismissed it. But as I went over the bumps on the roads in my area, Bumble Bee’s front bumper was brushing the bumps. Even though I was under the 20 mph speed limit.

That did not sound right to me because I had just had the left front tyre inflated the Friday before. Now, that left front tyre had an issue since I bought it 2 years ago the last time I inflated it – February 16th. It was got depressed faster than its mates and when I had my first MOT with it, I was told there was a nail in it.

If you know me, you’ll also know I don’t like to spend money without the proverbial gun to my head! So I asked the guy doing the MOT how much it would cost to patch up the tyre. He said £15.

As a financially savvy Maths teacher, I did some quick maths in my head to see what additional value patching the tyre might bring. Tesco at that time, charged £0.20 (aka 20p) for 2 minutes of tyre inflation.

So £15 = 75 tyre inflation episodes. Since I was doing an average of 1 inflation per month, it meant £15 gave me over 6 years worth of tyre inflating! As much as I might think I like Bumble Bee, I had no plans to keep her that long! My next car goal is a mustard-coloured Nissan Juke! Can I get an Amen?!

I’m sure you know by now what I decided to do. I walked away with the nail intact!

Detour over! Back to the prayer meeting.

When I got to church, I looked at the tyre and its ego was deflated. It was depressed, not emotionally, . . . physically. There was another fat nail stuck in the tyre! The same tyre oh!

I humphed, said “oh sugar!” and walked into church determined not to let it steal my joy and joined in the prayers thanking GOD.

After the prayer meeting, I asked one of the men in church where to go repair it; I was recommended one less than 5 minutes away. I didn’t bother inflating the tyre, thinking if it took me to church, it can take me to its hospital! And it sure did, despite the traffic.

The mechanics were nice guys. I was charged £12 for the repair of both punctures –  an extra £2 for the extra hole. And apparently, the smaller, older nail had made a bigger hole through the tyre. While pacing round the car waiting for the repair to be done, I drew the Blood line around it.

On my way back, it dawned on me that it was a blessing that the new nail was in the same tyre as the old nail and so I didn’t have to pay an extra £10 for repairing a second tyre. Boy, was I glad! I began to thank GOD for the nail.

My perspective changed from one of having to spend money, which I could afford anyway, to one of thanksgiving that I even got a £3 discount from the initial £15 (probably worth £16 now due to inflation, pun intended!).

And for me, that was a massive sign of maturity and growth over the past 2 years because prior to now, all sorts of negative suggestions from the enemy would have thrown me off kilter, and kept me in a bad mood!

But no sir! That era is gone. I realise somethings are too little to steal my focus away from joy, which is a third of the Kingdom of GOD. And praised GOD through it.

I even got blessed with a black Under Armour face cap from a deacon in church. That same day! And I treated my car to a long overdue £12 interior and exterior car wash!

To your pushing back the lies that try to steal your joy and seeing through the eyes of joy, . . .