Making the choice

By Jeff Becraft

The number one thing you can do to keep your car running is to change the oil.

Now, I am not a mechanic by any stretch of the imagination. Perhaps you have caught one of my YouTube channels: “How to fix something in 7 hours or more” or “How to turn a 90-minute project into a 90-day escapade.”

Back when I was in my early 20s, a friend and mentor of mine taught me how to change the oil in my car. His name was Mark Newlen. Now the first time I did it on my own, I forgot to tighten the oil filter enough, and so oil went all over the street… and I had to redo the job. But that has only happened one time. I got to thank Mark in person back in 2019 when I saw him and say, “Hey, you’re the one who taught me how to change the oil in my car.” I have been doing it ever since on all our cars.

But I can assure you of this – there has never been a single day where I have woken up and said, “All right! I’m going to change the oil today!”

It is not really something I like to do.

But it is extremely important for the longevity of the cars that we own. And so, I do it. I make that choice. And because I make that choice, we are able to enjoy the cars in various ways… to go places, to go grocery shopping, to go to work, to go on a vacation, to go visit family, etc. The cars do what we want them and need them to do because I make the choice to change the oil on a regular basis. And I don’t nickel and dime on it either. I get the best oil you can get and I get the best oil filters you can get. This is the number one thing we can do to enhance the life of our cars (which enhances our lives). Why would I skimp on that?

But as I said, I have never… on any day… ever… woken up and said, “All right! It is oil-changing day!” What I do is, I put some music on outside, and I am thankful as I change the oil – I am thankful for the cars, I am thankful that they are still running (mine has over 300,000 miles on it), I am thankful when the oil filter comes off, (I am thankful that oil filter wrenches can help fix toilets), and I am thankful when I lay on my back to go underneath the car and look up at the sky and see the beauty of that.

It is not my favorite thing to do… but I seek to enjoy the experience.

There are times in life when we need to do what we don’t feel like doing in order to know the joy of experiencing what we really want. We need to keep our eye on the bigger picture and on what is most important.

What in my life is there that I really don’t feel like doing but if I put my heart and soul into it, it would make a difference? And not just in my life… it’s not about me… but would make a difference in other people’s lives?

If we seek that out, we might find a greater joy than we are experiencing now.

Jeff Becraft is the Director of Our Place of Hope and the Director Emeritus for Youth Corps and has dedicated much of his life to helping shift the vision of people’s lives. Our Place of Hope is a paradigm shift for people living with mental illness that encourages them to regain meaning, purpose, and hope for their lives. You can connect with Jeff at  jbecraft4TN@gmail.com.