Tuesday, March 24, 2009

The Brown Beauty


Reliable, Consistent, Faithful, Remaining, Never Changing.

Do these adjectives describe you? Do they describe someone in your life?

They describe my brown Plymouth Reliant. It was a two door brown beauty. The interior sported that faux wood look. The seats were a cream, tan-ish color. It was the car that would not die. My Dad helped me pick it out. Never buy a car in the rain. There is no way to tell if the paint is worn, or if it is shiny and brilliant. The Reliant, when dry, best resembled a large paper sack. My Dad told me it would be a great car for me; it was low in mileage and would be safe. I wanted to tell him it is because all of the other cars on the road would run from it. I quickly asked how long I had to keep this car. He said- until it dies.

It never did.

Five years later I married John and it made the long trip to NC. It was pulled by the tiny U-haul. I discovered upon our late arrival in Charlotte that a hand mirror had been reflecting on the dash the whole way. It added a nice burn spot on the illustrious vinyl interior. My poor brown paper sack.

About two years after it's NC arrive the door started screeching so loud that it announced my arrival to those that were withing a 10 mile radius. My sweet brown blog. I remember the day that John said it might be time to get rid of my reliant. I wanted to leap for joy- but was afraid I would hurt her feelings. She had been so faithful. She had heard all of my rants, laughed with me upon occasion, and never told about my late night arrivals during my dating years. Yes, she had been my consistent friend. She chewed up many of my cassette tapes, even sang with me upon occasion. She always lovingly held my belongings, she toted me around town, and never complained a bit. She never talked back, she was always there for me and was willing to go with me where ever I would turn her little steering wheel.

I am so thankful that God has been that solid, reliable, steadfast friend to me. He has heard me rant, he has laughed with me, he has held my hand as I cried, and he has even not told about some late night dates. What he has done is to change my life, his consistent love has molded me. I have learned that even though our relationship might not be the flashiest, the most sought after, the latest trend- it is the true thing.

Jesus is the best thing that has ever happened to me. See there are days that I ebb and flow. There are days that I am scared out of my mind- but on days like that I go back to the well worn page in my not so shiny red Bible and read this…..

“He that dwells in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust Surely he shall deliver you ….”
Psalm 91:1-3

I hope that you have the privilege of learning the value of that consistent love. That you will allow him to shelter you today, that you will lean on the almighty and let Him lead you. As to the Brown Reliant- she was sold for 100.00 to help a single Mom. I hope she saw the beauty in her that I learned to love.

5 comments:

Girly Muse said...

i LOVE this post! but i LOVE you more! :)

cltgrace said...

Goodbye, trusted friend. Wow - you sure loved & lived lots with that Brown Beauty. I can relate. I posted a teary farewell to my Saturn here: http://gracefulldays.blogspot.com/2008/07/goodbye-trusty-friend.html

Danan said...

God is so faithful...even when I'm not! He is my "reliant"...smiles...
I love this blog. Of course, I love all your blogs!

Danan

Kathy McElhaney said...

We have a faithful 92 Saturn with 280K miles - it has been on many adventures, including an off-road trip on a fire road in Santa Barbara County.

The roads that God has traveled with me have been smooth, bumpy, dark, and sunny. But He's always been faithful and I've seen amazing sites along the way!

Great post, as always!

Cylinda Nickel said...

Loves the Saturn Story-

Danan- I love you more

Lori- you are just plain amazing- Lori

Kathy you win the prize 280K on that car- amazing. The stories that car could tell :)

Love you all