This rule I most often see demonstrated in the automobile world. I remember Dad saying this phrase a lot growing up, but honestly, I’ve seen him break the rule a few times, and almost always, he paid the consequences. By the time I came along, Bud had gone through the tough times that many of us go through, having to drive whatever we can afford. Usually that means some kind of lemon that someone else has already squeezed most of the juice from. But since I came along a little later in my father’s life, he had the ability to drive some pretty decent cars; but when he went cheap, it always came back to bite him.
I remember in the seventies, when gas went to a dollar a gallon, (what would we give to have that back?) Bud bought an economy car. To his credit, he did buy a Mercury, the “happy medium” of the Ford brand, but he bought a Mercury Bobcat. For those of you that are too young to remember a Bobcat, and because they were such pieces of junk that almost none still exist today, I will tell you that the Bobcat was the chromed up version of the Ford Pinto, the target of seventies’ liability lawyers and comedians everywhere. Dad’s Bobcat did not last long around our house, because it became very apparent, very soon, that it was a pile of junk that couldn’t pull itself out of its own tracks. Lesson learned, Dad traded up to a Torino, paid more for gas, but rode in much more comfort with much more reliability.
Likewise, I saw him go the other way once, buying a top of the line Cub Cadet riding mower. He had always preferred to purchase middle of the road products, but the allure of that brand caused him to pay top dollar for a high end product. What he soon found out was that he paid a lot of money for pretty yellow paint, without a whole lot more to show for it. It was no more reliable to operate than lawn tractors that cost hundreds less, plus the parts were VERY expensive. Needless to say, he unloaded the Cadet and bought a Snapper that cost about half as much…and lasted for many years.
After these speed bumps, I heard Dad speak about the “happy medium” a lot; it was a well learned life lesson. It’s a lesson I think still works pretty well. If you buy junk, that’s what you get. From tools to toys, if you go cheap, you will pay for it over and over. Likewise, if Snap-On or Louis Vuitton calls your name, chances are that you are overpaying for life and working for your tools and toys, instead of letting them work for you. A lot of folks are deep in debt and working 60 hours plus a week, to pay for piles of junk, both cheap and expensive. In the end, it costs us the precious hours of our life. Nobody on their death bed ever says, “I wish I had worked harder and bought more stuff.”
What does this have to do with life spiritually? I think a lot. Jesus said, “If a man builds a tower, does he not first count the cost?” Paul said that every man’s life will be tried to see what it’s made of, whether it be gold and precious jewels or wood, hay and straw. The bottom line is this; live a quality life. Spend more time on the people in your life than the stuff in your life. Don’t be cheap, but don’t live to excess. Lay your treasures up in Heaven…because nobody takes it with them when they go.
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