The Parable of the Little Car that Wouldn't Back Up

(This is another "oldie" originally written about 8 years ago)

My son Spencer gave me a car he was no longer using. The little white Honda had been in an accident...it had been run into by a deer one night on Highway 89 near the turn-off that leads up the canyon to Morgan, Utah. The glass that shattered and embedded its tiny slivers and fine dust into my daughter-in-law Nancy's face had been replaced; the front fender was still badly damaged, but that damage was cosmetic; it was the damage to the Honda's reverse gear imposed partly by Spencer's impatient driving habits that rendered the little car useless to Spencer and Nancy after they replaced it with a new car.
I drove the car on errands around Cedar City and to and from the bookstore where I worked. My co-workers and my youngest daughter, Jessica teased me as I searched for parking places where, in parking lots I could pull all the way through and be ready to continue forward when my errands were completed, and at curbside, near driveways where no one could park in front of me. It reminded me of my mother who made her rounds to PTA meetings and grocery shopping and Girl Scout meetings in the little black '39 Ford coupe donated by my Grandmother when I was a child. But that is another story in another time and place, and the lessons I learned from the little car that wouldn't back up had nothing to do with its disabilities, but everything to do with the service it could still render.
One day I learned that a co=worker at the bookstore was temporarily without transportation and I felt rather embarrassed to offer the little white Honda, but he accepted the offer gratefully and was abundant with his thanks as he returned the keys to me a few days later. It was only then that I formulated the thoughts that drew parallels between the little car that wouldn't back up and the life that our Savior requires of us. Battered by the accidents of life and collisions with temptation and sin, we replace the glass; straighten the fender a little and in humility use what is left to press forward...ever forward in service to our Lord and co-workers in the Kingdom. With broken parts and hearts and with contrite spirits we continue to press forward. We find parking places where we can pull through; where the only way out is forward; where driveways don't allow anyone to get in our way. We must continually think about not getting trapped in a situation where we'll have to back up. We are unable or unwilling to retreat; and we find ourselves pressed into service when we are embarrassed and sure there are others more capable than we with our disabilities and limitations. We fulfill the measure of our creation, transporting ourselves and others on the Lord's errand and honor our commitments and abide in the covenants we've made.
I have grown to love that little Honda and with reluctance I have today placed an ad in the paper to sell it for parts. "Well done thou good and faithful servant..."