A few weeks back, I was driving home from church, and the truck next to me was speeding out of control to the point that it kicked up a rock and put a chip in my windshield. My initial thought was out of all the drivers on the road that day, my car was the one that had to get impacted. Now I could've gotten upset because I had a chip that turned into a crack in the same spot a year prior, and fixing it cost a lot of money. I was working from home, so there was no urgency to address it; however, I couldn't see between the crack when I did drive because it was shaped like the McDonald's arch. Finally, the crack became unbearable, so I called around to get estimates and scheduled a technician to come to my house. I was informed at the appointment that if I had taken care of it while it was a chip, it would have been cheaper. I gave that nice man a look like, " I know you are lying." Your girl learned a lesson from that incident, so I addressed it according to the state it was currently in.
What is a Chip/Crack?
A chip is a state of being impacted by a sharp object that causes a slight change. Chips, in most cases, can be filled with a solution; however, if the size is too big, it's deemed a crack. A crack is a state of something being split or separated that shows up significantly. The thing about both is they are repairable up until a certain point and after a replacement is necessary. The thing is, conditions impact whether a not the chips cracks quicker or the crack expands more but either way, something must be done,
How often have you noticed the chips you don't talk about in your life? The disappointment from your spouse because you didn't communicate what you needed, but somehow you are now mad because they didn't do it. The loss you have taken financially due to overspending, and now you have maxed out all your credit cards. The comment your 6th-grade teacher made saying you will never make it in life. Hell, the iPhone you dropped now has a ding in the corner. These chips grow into significant cracks, and we end up paying a larger price because we didn't repair them when we had a chance. The next thing we know, we can't see straight and are downtown filing for divorce/ bankruptcy, walking around thinking we can never reach our potential, relationship hopping, taking a trip to the Apple store, or worse mad at the world. We jump to drastic measures because it feels like the easiest thing to do when the cracks appear in the same or different form. If we acted as soon as we noticed the issues, we could eliminate getting to the point of starting over. Unfortunately, the ugly truth is we have not addressed the cracks within ourselves, so when things happen, we can't identify that it's simply a chip. My mother always says, "Don't Major on the Minor and Minor on the Major, and I didn't get it until I got older. All she was trying to tell me is whatever issues come according to the current state, don't go overboard when it's minor, and don't take it lightly when it's major.
We will always face chips and cracks in our lives; however, they must be addressed. You can address them early on or wait, but you will have to at some point, even if it's with yourself!
I challenge you to these questions!
Are you able to identify the chips or cracks in your life?
Are you willing to address it while it's in a minor state, or you rather wait until it's major?
Are you aware that, at some point, it has to be addressed?