On my evening commute home from work yesterday, I noticed a really strange looking Mercedes-Benz at the stop light. The front grill of the vehicle looked unlike any model I’d ever seen. I attempted to rationalize what I was viewing in my head, even going so far as to consider the prospect of it being a new car design or model. From my observations, year to year automotive designers do seem to attempt to maintain some continuity in their work, so, this thing, whatever I was looking at, just didn’t work for me.
As the light changed, I was left to worry no more. I would finally get to see exactly what I was looking at. I moved from across the intersection, inching closer to the car and I saw it. It wasn’t a Mercedes. I’m actually still not quite sure what it was, but I believe it may have been a Pontiac G6 and I’m certain the huge Mercedes insignia stuck on the front did not originally belong to this car.
Being able to observe the car, from a closer range and at a better angle, made it easier for me to see. The Mercedes emblem looked horrible. It appeared as if it had been cut from the grill of another car and not with care either, because the edges looked rigged and serrated. There had been no care in constructing this cover up, they clearly just wanted to cover up…
I thought to myself, why would anyone do this? Why would I take the trademark, the symbol, the identity of another vehicle and plaster it onto mine? This doesn’t change what it really is and anyone can identify what it is and well, what it isn’t…
As I entered my driveway, I jotted a few notes to share and it starts with this.
Be Who You Were Created to Be.
If you want a Mercedes, you have to pay for it.
You’ll have to pay more for simple maintenance, repairs, gas, etc. The brand not only cost (the retail value), but it has a cost (upkeep). Forget spending $30 for an oil change and be prepared to spend on average $100 a pop. Don’t put anything less than premium in your gas tank or you could damage your expensive engine. And don’t, I repeat, don’t let anyone do anything to your car outside of a service station or the dealer.
I had to have repairs done on a Mercedes before and it wasn’t a pleasant experience for my finances. It took a while for me to emotionally recover. *smiles* Without sharing every experience, here’s three:
I hit a vicious pothole one day that took out my tire and my axle. I was told one new axle would cost me around $900.
In another instance, a rock sprouted legs and jumped off the road to attack my window. When comparing the expense of out of pocket repairs next to my insurance deductible, I was advised a replacement window would be right at $600.
I foolishly let someone change my headlight or so I thought. After taking it to the shop to be replaced, I was advised the mount had been broken and it would cost around $500 to purchase a new headlight mount.
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So I ask you, can you keep up with the cost of what you desire?
Have you even considered the cost of what you’re asking for, looking for, or working towards?
Could you handle the attention that comes with driving a Mercedes?
Would people stopping to tell you that you have a really nice car resurrect, inflate, and detonate your ego?
Are you really ready for what you think you want?
Can you handle the attention of that magnitude of success?
Would you become arrogant? Overwhelmed? Irresponsible?
Are you ready?
I remember Periscoping one day and a fellow broadcaster who has 20K some odd followers shared my broadcast and when they did several viewers joined. This was cool because that was the point. Although I could have gone without some of the traffic, because these people were behaving totally inappropriately. As I finished my broadcast quite unbothered by it actually, because I was focused on God and the task at hand, the Lord showed me something.
When you’re offered someone else’s platform, you can actually end up bearing some of the attacks set for them. So, be prepared with what you ask, whose platform you’re vying for, and whose social media following you want, because getting access to it may reroute the assignments from hell sent to attack them, to you. Now, if you’re equipped for it then that’s great.
Preparation equips us and is forever present in our lives.
But like the “Fake Mercedes” I saw, many are wearing the facade of what they could be, aspire to be, or will be, versus what they currently are. Most people aren’t equipped for what they ask for. Most people have yet to consider the cost of what others have had to pay for the things they covet? Most of us desire, want, and obtain only to ask questions later.
Don’t hustle backwards.
What I mean is don’t live outside of wisdom.
Don’t desire to be anything else other than who you were created to be and don’t rush to be that. God created you, so He knows just what you were designed for and how much you can handle. Slow down. Wait. God is perfect in His planning, so you won’t miss anything. Consider the cost of what you desire. Plan and when I say plan, I mean confer with God. Then stick with what He tells you. When you do this everything else in your life will fall into place, come into position, and meet its proper alignment by default. Even if things look crazy or they don’t seem to fit, it will all come together to create the perfect picture.
Tamara McNair-Hicks gave an awesome message in her Saturday night “Firestorm” on November 5th, 2016, and the essence of the message is this:
When you to try to be someone else you leave your position open and being in your position, being who you were created to be is important to someone else’s life.
Everything you do is much bigger than you. When you begin to think this way, you begin to think like God and when you entrust Him to carry out His plans for your life you’ll obtain continued success.
Move from the belief of going into your destiny and realize that you were created to grow into your destiny.
Please also see SMALL STARTS = BIG FINISHES
Featured Image Photo Credit: Pixabay/Pexels
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