Lessons from Mr. Speed
We played gas station this morning beneath the gray gloomy sky. I wore a ball cap and responded to the honking bike horn that alerted me to the waiting customers on the driveway. I used a garden hose to pump gas into Mr. Speed’s race car, and then marveled at how much Mr. Speed resembled my three-year-old son. As a matter of fact, his car bore an uncanny resemblance to Joshua’s red and blue bike as well.
Each time Mr. Speed approached my filling station, he announced in a boy-sized deep and rumbling voice, “I need some help. I been racing on EMPTY!”
Funny- Mr. Speed’s plea for assistance isn’t unlike my own this week. As I fuel up my young son’s race car dozens of times in our make-believe world, I wish that I could renew my energy so easily.
Honk. Honk. “I’m back again!” the brown-haired race car driver announces. I grab the hose and make swishing sounds as I squat by his back wheel.
“My, you go through a lot of fuel,” I comment in my best gas attendant voice. “You must be going really fast in those races.”
“Yeah,” Mr. Speed replies, “I’m ALWAYS the winner. And after every race I need more and more and more and more gas!”
I smile. “Well, I’m glad you’ve found my gas station. Come back again.”
“I will,” the miniature man replies. As he pedals toward the mud puddle at the driveway’s end he glances over his shoulder and asks, “What if you run out of gas?”
“Oh, I won’t ever run out,” I assure my concerned customer. “This ol’ gas hose is connected to an endless supply of fuel.” Mr. Speed gives me a satisfied thumbs up and turns back to the mud.
I ponder the words of Oswald Chambers that I’d read at dawn before Mr. Speed and his four siblings awoke:
“Exhaustion means that the vital forces are worn out. Spiritual exhaustion never comes through sin but only through service, and whether or not you are exhausted will depend upon where you get your supplies… The process of being broken bread and poured-out wine means that you have to be the nourishment for other souls until they learn to feed on God. They must drain you to the dregs. Be careful that you get your supply, or before long you will be utterly exhausted. Before other souls learn to draw on the life of the Lord Jesus direct, they have to draw on it through you; you have to be literally “sucked,” until they learn to take their nourishment from God…” (My Utmost For His Highest).
Until the five precious souls beneath my roof learn to draw on the life of Jesus for themselves, I will be “sucked dry” day in and day out. In fact, today, I realize that I WANT to be poured out, for that means that I am faithfully providing the spiritual nourishment that will one day enable Mr. Speed and all of his siblings to be fueled by their own rock-solid faith. Perhaps the key to combatting the inevitable exhaustion of motherhood is not in giving less, but in fueling more.
Honk. Honk. The bike horn beckons. I glance at the garden hose connected to the faucet perched on the side of our house. I know I’ve still got plenty of fuel for my waiting customer.
I consider my own heart. To what am I connected? “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. ” John 15:5
As I greet Mr. Speed I picture my Savior in a pinstriped coverall with a grease-monkey hat sitting on top of his Holy head. “I’m glad you stopped by my Fountain of Life, young lady. It looks like you’ve been faithfully running the race. I’d love to give you some of my Holy Spirit fuel. Why don’t ya just open up that heart of yours and I’ll fill you to OVERFLOWING!” He pulls me into a one-armed hug and whispers in my ear, “I don’t ever run out of what you need, so come back soon, all right?”
I nod and turn back to my waiting three-year-old. My Savior’s voice echoes in my mind, “I’ve given you enough to share, daughter. Go ahead and pour it all out… Mr. Speed and the others need it more than you. I’ll be right here waiting to refuel you again. Any time. Any hour. That’s my job.”
The Overflow: Lord, you alone are my inheritance, my cup of blessing…” Psalm 16:5a
