Read the Label

So, my windshield washer fluid ran out the other day. I knew I had a container in my truck and I knew that the winter stuff (good to -35 C) was blue... So I grabbed out the bottle of blue stuff and poured it into the washer fluid reservoir and happily drove out of our underground parking and into -15C. I had my time at Starbucks and when I got back in the truck and hit the road... well, you can guess what happened... Yup, now windshield washer fluid... It was working fine on the way there, so either the pump has stopped working or... gulp... I used the wrong fluid...

It's very hard to drive and see when you can't wash away the little tiny specks of dirty water from your windshield. Even though it was -15 to -10 out there, the salt on the roads meant that all the cars were kicking up dirty water drops... and they ended up on my windshield... And using your wipers in such a case doesn't help matters... it actually makes it worse... When I got home, I checked the container I had used and sure enough, even though it was blue... it was bug wash... not winter wash... Sigh... So after a few hours, the lines had thawed and I had done some research, so I sat in the truck and held the lever and let the stuff just spray out until the reservoir was empty... buying the winter stuff!!

The whole experience reminded me that reading labels is extremely important!! In my mind the winter stuff was blue... and so I didn't even look at the bottle I was pouring into the car. And when I did go to Canadian Tire to get the real stuff... it was actually green... which completely confuses me... Do they change the colours from one year to the next???

And driving with no washer fluid is a metaphor for life as well. We get all sorts of things tossed at us... things that cloud our vision and make it hard to see where we are going... Wiping them away doesn't help. Pretending they aren't there doesn't help... We actually need to wash them away... with prayer, with meditation, with being complete with things... All those things keep our spiritual washer fluid tanked up... If we let our reservoir run dry... well... we're going to be in trouble pretty quick! What keeps your spiritual washer fluid tanked up??