Tires and Self-reliance

Early morning walk in Hoover, AL

     Was I just naive? Or is there a point in your life that you THINK TOO MUCH.  It seems the older I grow the more I seem to worry about details.  Always trying to figure things out way in advance.  I don’t want to make any mistakes and so my mind is always calculating in advance every possible scenario for every situation. 

I don’t think I would have noticed going from the point of being naive to “thinking too much," had not it been that our oldest granddaughter is living with us and brings with her naiveness and youthfulness. I find myself wanting to calculate, prepare in my mind all her needs in advance.  I have to stop warning her in advance of all the “what ifs”.  Her mind doesn’t need to know all the “what ifs.”  I never needed to know all the what ifs and did just fine.  What has made me so calculating over the years?   Easy answer….I don’t want to make mistakes so I go over and over all possible scenarios in advance.   I see I have overdone it.

     Here is an example of what I am trying to say.  We have been married 44 years, neither of us have ever even thought about the tires on our cars up until about 5 years ago.  It just didn’t occupy our minds. Yet somehow we survived.  When we had a young family and drove  a very used car, when a tire became flat we had it repaired and sometimes noticed it had no tread left.  We asked the garage attendant if he had a used one, and for a few dollars we were on our way.  This is how it always happened.  We were always being looked after without  pre-calculating and worrying in advance. 

     I remember in the 80’s Elizabeth was about 4 years old, and I was working part-time in Bountiful with a friend.  We both had little girls the same age and we brought them to work with us since it was our business.  One day as I got off the freeway and turned onto the street where my business was located I noticed a tire center and the thought came into my mind “you need to pull in there and have your tires checked”  I knew that thought didn’t come from me so I obeyed and pulled in.  When I got out of the car the attendant looked at my left rear tire and had the strangest look on his face as he showed me how the tread was falling off.  I said “ Could this wait until I get home to show my husband?  He said “I don’t know how you drove in our driveway without a blow-out.”    I then purchased the new tires and went on my way.  I also remember a winter when I had to drive to Salt Lake to get supplies for my husband’s electronic business. I didn’t like driving in snow storms yet I knew he needed the parts.  I had both Emily and Elizabeth in the back seat.  We witnessed a roll over right in front of us on the way back, which was very scary, but I was driving safe and had plenty of distance between us.  I dropped off the parts to John’s business and drove the girls home.  As I came to a stop in our driveway,  I heard a loud noise, a tire had literally exploded.  I remember feeling so grateful that it didn’t happen 5 minutes earlier as I would have been on the freeway.  I also remember feeling protection from above for the precious cargo I was carrying (my two little girls).

     So, back to my question.  Was it ok to be naive and not worry and calculate when I needed new tires, and allow the Lord to protect us all those years, or is my self-reliance craze better, trying to figure everything out way in advance? 

“Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.”
― Dr. Seuss