Sat., Feb. 17, 2018

Ecclesiastes 7:8 – The end of a matter is better than its beginning and patience is better than pride.

Some days, I have a little more patience than others.

A couple months ago, I ordered a new laptop. As I move into a different stage of life, a new laptop would be a symbolic way to lead the change. My previous laptop was over five years old. It had been used hard. Someday, it would stop working.

The new laptop arrived at Christmas. Because of other priorities, I didn’t get it up and running. Meanwhile, the screen on my old laptop stop working. I creatively figured out how to copy the files off the hard drive. I plugged the HDMI cable from our television into the computer and copied the files onto a flash drive.

I knew setting up the new laptop would take a few hours. When I finally made it a priority, it became clear the laptop was not running as it should. The internet connection didn’t work. Not a computer guru, my limited computer wisdom was exhausted and the laptop was still not working right. It was time to call the manufacture for assistance.

Why is it whenever I call a company for technical support or assistance, my patience meter bottoms out? I lose all ability to keep a calm and steady voice and quickly become frustrated. This instance was no acceptation. I deserve a demerit for lack of patience with the tech who tried to help me out.

The solution involved rebooting the entire system which would take hours. We set-up a time for a call-back the next day to see if the laptop was working. The internet connection was now operational but there were still some bugs. During this session, I was a bit more patient and less sharp with the tech. A couple more hours on the phone and whew, the laptop seems to be operational.

I am embarrassed at my lack of patience through this process. The techs were doing their jobs and trying to help me. I was not gracious. I could only focus on the time this was taking me. I was not a very gracious customer.

I cannot begin to imagine the number of times God has wanted to overhaul me and I ignored God. Maybe just some tweaking and I was not patient enough with God to hear and see what God laid out before me. Did God give up on me when I needed an overnight timeout to get a different perspective? Thanks goodness, no! When God checked in with me the next day or week or month, was I able to reflect upon the situation from a different view? Could I step back and appreciate the wisdom and help coming my way, even if I wasn’t completely onboard?

Thank goodness God is far more patient with me than I deserve. Thanks be to God.

Lord God – thank you, thank you, thank you for being patient with me!  Amen.

Blessings –

Dianne

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