I heard a devotion at church recently and I can’t seem to get it off my mind. Maybe some of you can relate.....
It was a story of the man fixing a clutch on his tractor. Did you know you have to take the tractor apart totally in half to fix a clutch? I didn’t (but that’s a good piece of information to have in case it ever comes up later in life). He talked about his frustration when trying to put the tractor back together. It just wouldn’t line up right. He and the other fix-it guy decided to step away, take some time, pray about it, and try again another day. And you know what? A few days later the parts went back together perfectly in a very short amount of time, with only one man in the shop to handle a two-man job. Ain’t it amazing how God cares about even the everyday things that don’t go right in our lives?!
I don’t know about you, but I know very little (ok, nothing) about tractors. But I could relate to the message. And I compared it to something I do know a little bit about - office machines. Can we all just agree that electronics are great....until they aren’t?! The specific one I will focus on today is my copier/printer/scanner (that’s me) and its relationship with/to my desktop computer (God).
For those of you who understand office machines about as much as I understand tractors, let me see if I can explain it. This machine is a 3-in-1, meaning it mainly has three different functions (I’m sure there’s a message there somewhere, but I’m trying to stay focused). It also has several other fancy features, but they’re only used in special circumstances. First, it copies - It receives physical outside information (documents) and duplicates it, over and over, as much as you need. Second, it prints - The computer sends internal information to it and it turns it into something physical to distribute (like writing weird stories about tractors and printers). Third, it scans - It receives outside information and saves it internally, to be pulled out and made into something physical, or sent to someone else who needs the same information. All of these things are accomplished by the network connection between the computer (God) and the machine (me).
This machine works great...most of the time. I usually just insert or send information to it, press a button, and voila! That information is either saved or duplicated or passed on to others, as the case may require. It has an automatic paper feeder, which means it can (or should) receive multiple things at a time and feed them through one at a time in an orderly fashion. Sometimes, though, those things get stuck together and don’t feed through one at a time, and try to all go through at the same time. That just jams things up and we have to restart the process, manually feeding it one page at a time. Sometimes it loses connection and won’t do what it’s told by just pressing a button. Sometimes I have to go through steps and access it manually from the computer.
You may be asking, how in the world does this relate to tractors? It doesn’t. It relates to the frustration when things don’t go as smoothly as planned. As I said, MOST of the time, I can press a button and the machine copies/prints/scans as I have told it. But then sometimes, it decides to become ornery and fickle, and suddenly decides it doesn’t want to do what I tell it to do, and I’m left looking at the devilish blue spinning circle.
I try all the redo efforts, and usually get nowhere. I’m yelling at it, “I don’t understand! Why won’t you just do what I tell you to do?! How hard is that?! How do you suddenly, in the middle of a job, decide to disconnect from the thing that controls it all?! And how does the connection work one way but not the other?!” (Yes I talk to my machines. But I don’t give them names, because (#1) I’m not crazy M’Lynn, and (#2) it makes it less personal when I have to smack it with a rolled up paper.) Sometimes this can go on all day, or for multiple days. Let me tell you, this can just about just down an office that handles a lot of paper/information.
When I’ve finally had enough of the frustration and nothing I try seems to work, I take the professional advice I received years ago - turn it off; unplug it; reboot it; turn it back on; and try again. It takes some time, and a lot of prayer. I have to wait it out while it decides to reconnect and act right, but it works. A lot of days, God has to do the same thing with me. I can become disconnected (even in the middle of the job), uncooperative, and even unresponsive. But God, in his infinite wisdom, knows exactly how to fix it. No, he doesn’t walk away - He will never leave us, even when we’re being complicated. But I believe he will sometimes let us sit in our uncooperativeness (?) for a while. Then He will unplug, reboot, reconnect us (hear our prayers), and try again. And usually by the end of the day I’ve learned my lesson and can do or finish the job I was assigned. The connection is quick; the paper doesn’t jam; the information is distributed as needed; and things run smooth again.
Now, if you will excuse me, my phone is ringing and I must answer it. It’s part of my job.
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