So, for those who don’t
know me too well, I sell computers at….well, let’s just call it the
“fruit stand”. A daily part of my job is showing our customers all the
awesome features, and functions of their devices.
The
other day I came upon just such an opportunity that proved to be a bit
more challenging than any interaction I’ve ever had in the store. A
gentlemen walked in the store, late forty’s/early fifty’s, he had a
mustache, and a note pad, which is code for “I need to learn something”
(The notepad is the code, not the mustache). I gave him
the usually friendly greeting, “Welcome to the ‘fruit stand’. Can I help
you find something?” “Yeah,” he replied, “I was wondering if you guys
had any books that could teach me some stuff about my phone. You see I
have a little bit of a memory problem, and it would be really helpful if
I could see the users manual in written form.”
I
took him to the back and showed him some of the books we have on the
phone, all the while probing to see what kinds of stuff he was going to
use the book for. “Is there anything specific I could maybe answer for
you?” I asked. “Yeah,” he replied, “as a matter of fact there is. I’ve
been having a bit of difficulty with my calendar app. See here, I can
open the app like this, but I can’t close out the screen.” I told him,
“Yeah, if you push this ‘home’ button there in the bottom center, it
will take you back to your home screen, and close out the app.” He gave
me a bewildered look, and inquired some more. “But when I open up the
app again that stuff’s still going to be there.” The confusion became
contagious, “Well yeah,” I said, “you’ll want to have that information
so you can ad appointments, and schedule events in your calendar.”
Seemingly a little frustrated he said, “But I want to clear out the
screen, I don’t want to see this calendar!” So for the next 45 minutes I
ran around in circles with this man, teaching him multiple times how to
add, delete, and edit all his events in the calendar, all the while
trying to explain to him the purpose behind the app, and the benefits
he’d get from using the app properly.
Somewhere
around the 30 minutes mark it struck me, this is too often how my
relationship with God looks. I tried to imagine looking at myself from
his perspective, and the patience he has, and is showing while teaching
me how to live, and love well. Like the man with memory problems, I read
the users manual, and listen to the spirit’s reasoning with blinders
on, and cotton in my ears. Some how the electric pulses in my brain are
being blocked, and I leave the interaction frustrated wondering why I
can’t learn. I become the man James speaks of who looks at himself in
the mirror, and then when he walks away from it, forgets what he looks
like.
Praise God that he is a tenured teacher, and
far more skilled than I. Slowly and surely I begin to see that his way
is much more beautiful, much more user friendly. The lag between his
teaching, and my comprehension that have always proven so frustrating to
me, builds in me a trust in him because of his kindness, compassion,
and patience. “His school is tough, and is one of brokenness” as I’ve
heard Swindoll say before. God give me strength to embrace the
brokenness that leads to breakthrough.
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