Life is chaos right now… so instead of, ya know, going to a therapist – I dove into the armpits of amazon to shop myself into a new hobby… don’t worry – I’ve biblically justified my retail therapy (that was a joke.) I promise I will come full circle and not use a car post to vent about grief; just hear me out. So before my life completely fell apart, I was FEELIN’ good. I drowned myself in business and “self-help” hustle resources and mindsets. I was quick to fill my time with efficiency, even if it meant sleeping less. Fast forward to me after losing a baby and brother-in-law… I’m sorry Rachel Hollis, but depression can not wash her face. There are just come things you can’t hustle out of, and the months of crawling out of it were no thanks to any hustle but all the Glory to God. In this slow and stead crawl, I have learned that stewardship – not entrepreneurship – is what makes me glow.
stew·ard·ship/ˈst(y)o͞oərdˌSHip/
1.the job of supervising or taking care of something, such as an organization or property.
Unfortunately death is just a part of existing outside of heaven, so when I die, I hope that my family doesn’t see me as a chaser of things I can’t afford or take care of. This idea of stewardship that makes me glow is being thankful for what God placed in my hand. If it’s new, second hand, or found on the side of the road – do I take care of it to the best of my ability? Do I praise God for it or myself? This COVID19 pandemic honestly hasn’t hit me hard – and while that makes me feel sad for others, it makes me incredibly humbled that my glow is not in the vehicle I drive or clothes I wear. I find great joy in being with myself, our things, and our family because I have spent the year prior to a global pandemic stewarding them well.
If you can thrive in an organized mess, I am so jealous of you. My brain does not work that way – in chaos it does not work at all. I’ve found myself having to give others grace in areas of my life that they don’t struggle with – such as grief, depression, and the need to produce excellent stewardship before consuming something to fill a void. Today I am going to use the example of my car. She wasn’t purchased the year she was made, and I was not her first owner – but do I take care of her to the best of my ability? Do I count down the days until she is different? What does stewardship look like with a car?
For me, it looks like respecting my finances. We don’t have it in our budget to get her detailed. We don’t even have time in my body clock to get her detailed between naps and nursing. I DO have a flexible work from home schedule. I DO have tools like the internet to research where our dollar goes the farthest. If you are all about car culture, please take yours to a professional. In my case, that is not a luxury worth splurging on in this season. As a photographer, I understand that you get what you pay for so my DIY attempts will never be on par with someone who has dedicated their life to auto-detailing.
So lets look at the numbers, at a local level – the cost runs between $120 – $199 per visit at a licensed and insured business. What I got off amazon: $53. Let’s look at an annual cost on the conservative end – $1440 in annual expenses to clean my car vs. $4.42/ month because of my investments and research in dog hair removal brushes (I even rounded up a cent). I get to hand my kids off while I listen to podcasts, drink coffee, and thank God for my gold fish crusted floor mats – priceless.
Often, we want to shake our fist at God and say why doesn’t my life look like theirs – when he gave us the time and resources to steward his blessing well… but we waste them on social media wishing our car was as clean as theirs. We wish our homes looked like theirs. We wish our kids behaved like theirs. We wish, we wish, we wish, without moving, learning, or being in awe.
We don’t have to hustle babe, we’ve got to steward our blessings well.
S H O P M Y M O M C A R F A V E S H E R E | S H A R E T H I S O N P I N T E R E S T H E R E
Anchors & Planes 