| Contributed by:
Kathy marmy@mstar2.net The Allegory of the Owner's Manual
For as long as she could remember, Lucretia McEvil had wanted a red
convertible with a black top, loaded with everything a girl could want. She
knew her dream car would be very expensive. Finally her dream came true.
Lucretia was so excited as she signed the final papers, making the car her
very own. She couldn’t wait to get behind the wheel and start having some
fun.
But the salesman stopped her and invited her to sit down "to go over a few
important maintenance items." He handed her the "Owners Manual" and
pointed out several things she needed to do to take care of her new car. He told her
that the engine needed to be broken in gradually, and that she should not go
over 50 miles per hour for the first 500 miles. Lucretia didn’t like hearing
that at all, since she had always planned to drive fast – very fast – in
her car to impress her friends.
The salesman then went through all the maintenance items that needed to be performed
at various intervals, like getting a checkup every few thousand miles, checking the
oil every time she put gas in the car, bring the car in for service, changing the
oil filter, getting the tires rotated. She needed to have someone check the belts,
hoses, and fluid levels, and a number of other bothersome things that Lucretia did
not want to hear about.
She said to herself, "There is no way I’m going to do all that! This is my
car and I’ll do what I want! They just want me to do all those things so
their service department can make even more money off of me!" She just blew
off the service maintenance talk as she watched the car dealership disappear
in her rear view mirror.
The weeks turned into months and about all she did was put gas into the car. She
never took her cute little car back to the dealership or anywhere else for service.
The car ran just fine for the first several months. But then she noticed it seemed
to lose a little of its power. She made up for that by stomping harder on the gas
pedal. It started to veer to the left a little on straight-aways, but she kinda
enjoyed the challenge of steering.
One day she decided to drive to the Outlet Mall. As she drove down the freeway the
car lost power, started to sputter, and smoke was billowing up from under the hood.
She looked at the gages on the dashboard as her car rolled to a stop.
Frustrated, she tried to restart the engine, but it wouldn’t even turn over.
Fortunately, a highway patrolman came by and called a tow truck to come tow
her car in.
She thought the problem could be easily fixed – after all, this was a fairly
new car. But the guy at the repair shop told her that the engine was totally
fried. He tried everything he could to salvage the engine, but it was no use.
The entire engine would have to be replaced. She received an estimate on the repair,
which turned out to be even more expensive than what she’d paid for the car in
the first place. Her new cute little car was totaled!!
The guy at the repair shop told her that if she had just followed the recommended
maintenance schedule as outlined in her Owners Manual, none of this would have
happened, and her car would still be just like new.
Lucretia realized that the Owners Manual maintenance schedule was something she
should have paid attention to. She thought it was going to cut into her play time
and ruin the fun she’d have with her new car. The salesman wasn’t trying
to make more money for their service department. They were trying to help her keep
her car in the best possible condition and keep it running for many years to come.
As she added up the time and money she’d be spending to repair her car, she
regretted the shortsighted attitude she’s taken. What a fool she had been.
We have a type of "Owners Manual" for our lives. It is the "For The
Strength of Youth" Pamphlet. Some kids feel that it was written by a bunch of
old guys who just want to take away our freedom, ruin our fun, and control our
lives. They say, "There is no way I’m going to do all that! This is my life and
I’ll do what I want! So they ignore all the suggested "maintenance items"
that were written for them.
If they wait too long, they find their life is a mess. Eventually they come to
realize that the men who wrote the "Owners Manual" really are prophets,
seers, and revelators who were just trying to help all of the youth live as
our Father in Heaven knows will bring them true happiness.
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