Steering Wheel or Spare Tire?

Life's always a road trip without any stops, but prayer
can be two different things at any given moment:
the steering wheel of the car, or its spare tire.

"Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?"

~Corrie Ten Boom

    Man, this is a really awesome quote! It's short, simple, and the imagery that Corrie Ten Boom uses is something that anyone in the world can picture and understand.
    Plus, it gives a healthy dose of conviction. Prayer is such an amazing and good thing that it's almost unbelievable--the ability to speak with the Lord, to "cast [our] care upon Him" (1 Peter 5:7, NKJ), and to even accomplish things for His kingdom as we pray for others and for His will to be done in our lives. It's a great relief and haven of sorts in life, an awesome blessing, and a great way to be fruitful, but sometimes it's too easy to act like it can be left on a shelf, untouched until something really bad happens.
    That's when prayer becomes a spare tire, only to be used in emergencies. And that's not the way the Lord intended prayer to be. He wants it to be something we hold to every day to connect with Him, and to direct our path in life, just like a steering wheel guides a car. It's a navigator that steers us away from troubles and dangers before we run into them, and it keeps us going in the ways God wants us to be in.
    This awesome quote by Corrie Ten Boom embodies that truth in a way that's perfect for helping us avoid stagnation in prayer life. It's like a simple equation we can hold up and compare the past few days to, providing a good idea of what prayer currently is to us within very little time.
    Do you already have this quote memorized? Is it a favorite saying of yours? :)