The Key (Fob) to Life

Several months ago, the key fob to my car wore out. The plastic covering that made it possible to push the buttons had worn through and I couldn’t use it anymore. Since I seemed to be easily annoyed by not being able to conveniently lock or unlock my car as I approached or departed from it, I decided it would be a good idea to replace the key fob.

So, armed with the basic knowledge that it would not be cheap, I set out to research what I needed to do to get a replacement. After several minutes of research, I sat back in my office chair, my expression changing back and forth from disbelief to indignation. How could a key fob replacement cost over $200?!

Now, you have to understand, I am a frugal person. I’ve always understood the value of a dollar, but after going through some long, difficult tymes of being out of work, I really learned to conserve and basically talk myself out of buying anything, even if I kind of needed it or not. I found that most tymes I could do without whatever it was. Did I NEED a new key fob? No. Did I WANT a new key fob? Yes.

The truth is, I had been back to work for several years and could have probably afforded to get the replacement, but there was something in me that found that price outrageous and I refused to buy it. So, I did a little more research and figured out that I could buy a key fob shell and transfer the workings of the broken one to the new one, since the problem was simply shell related and not mechanical. Oh, and I should add, that I could buy the shell for $10 … a much better number than $200...when it comes to paying, anyway!

A couple days later, my key fob shell arrived, and I sat down at my desk, armed with a tiny screwdriver, a determined mind, and a YouTube “How to” video. It was a good thing I had brought my determined mind, because the YouTube video didn’t exactly have perfect instructions. However, after several attempts and a little bit of thinking for myself, I had a new key fob that worked almost perfectly…and after a little bit of ingenuity, I found a way to rig the imperfection to make it fully functional.

Now, fast forward several months to this morning when, moving in haste, I dropped my keys on the floor. I quickly picked them up and rushed out to my car, only to find out that the same plastic covering that had forced me to get a replacement fob, was now completely gone from the new one. I wasn’t really sure if I found it to be coincidental or ironic, but I didn’t stop long enough to decide; I simply set my things on the trunk of my car and rushed back inside to look for the missing piece.  As I bounded in the door, sure enough, there was the missing piece, right there on the floor where my keys had fallen. I picked it up, put it back together as best I could and continued on with my morning, knowing full well I would have to fix it later so as not to lose it again.

Well, later came this afternoon when I had a break in my day. I took my keys out of my pocket and made the classic mistake of thinking, ‘this shouldn’t be too hard’. Really? Really??? It seems I will never learn the lesson that making such statements practically ensures that the opposite will be true, but I digress.

This tyme, unlike the first tyme, I was not armed with a tiny screwdriver. Well, let me tell you, there is nothing like a tiny screwdriver…not a paperclip, not tweezers, not a manipulated lanyard clip, not a piece of a sturdy old credit card cut and shaped like a little screwdriver…NOTHING! Suffice it to say, all of my efforts and several inventive ideas simply took up tyme instead of taking out the screw. About to give up, I decided to go searching around the office to see if by some miracle, there was a tiny screwdriver hiding in the junk drawer (Yes, even the kitchen at my office has a junk drawer). Low and behold, the exact tool that I needed was in the drawer!

I went back to my desk and within minutes I had ……… a mess! Ha! You thought I was going to tell you I got it all fixed, didn't you? Au contraire...what a mess! The key fob and all of its inner workings - which months ago I had labored so diligently to fix - were now all over my desk and in my lap. It blew apart like one of those compression packed cans of confetti! 

*** Insert HUGE SIGH here***

For the next several minutes, I worked to reassemble all the pieces, trying to recall all the tricks I had employed in the first go-round. I was of two minds as I worked, one of frustration and one of determination. Thankfully the latter prevailed, and the key fob got reassembled!!!  And, not only was it reassembled, it WORKED!!! And, not only was it reassembled and working, it actually worked better than the first tyme I did it!

As I cleaned up my desk, putting back all the things I had tried to use as a screwdriver, it occurred to me that my key fob experience was a lot like life. I didn’t have the tools I needed to fix what I was working on, and it really thwarted my progress. Instead of waiting until I could get the tool, I tried to move forward using tools that couldn’t do the job. Much like in life, we try to work on things we’re not properly equipped to work on, and it can cause us issues.  

Sometymes, we don’t have the right tool because we haven’t learned how to use it yet and having it could be dangerous for us or others. Other tymes we don’t have the tool because we don’t want to do what we need to do to get it. Now and then, we forget we have the tool if it’s not right in front of us and we struggle, trying to use the wrong tools that are right at our fingertips. And every once in a while, we do have the right tool, and when we use it, we STILL make a mess! 

The truth of the matter is life is an ever changing project that requires a lot of different tools and we have to build our inventory as we work through it. Each task or issue requires us to either reach in our tool bag or get a new tool in order to complete it. Of course, some of us have to work really hard to obtain certain tools (i.e. Patience, Grace, Wisdom, etc.). and then even when we get them, we misplace them a lot. Where did I put that Mercy wrench???

So, are you struggling to make things work? Are you trying to pick up the pieces and put things back together? Are you trying to keep things from falling apart? If so, just keep striving to fill your bag with quality tools from The Perfect Source and remember that every task you're asked to complete comes with a “How To” manual. Rely on those things and you will be able to build a quality life...even if that quality life might occasionally explode like a can of confetti. If it does, the key (fob) is to remember You know The One Who is able to reassemble it and make it work even better than it did before!