Sunday, December 16, 2012

Roadblocks and Blessings

Everything in life, everything we do, is surrounded by technology.  Sometimes, it frustrates me beyond belief, especially when they don't quite want to work.

I remember the old blond wood television when I was a little girl, 2 stations, maybe 3 at most.  I even remember the very first episode of the Flintstones!  A few years later, we were introduced to Pa, and Hoss and Little Joe on the Ponderosa, and it was in living color.  On Sunday nights, I would be stretched out on the floor at my grandparent's home, thinking that the NBC peacock in color was the coolest thing I had ever seen in my life.  Who knew that it was the beginning of more channels than any of us could ever even dream of watching and a picture that was so realistic, that you feel like you could step right into it!  For those of you that remember the first television, period, or listening to Little Orphan Annie on the big radio in the living room, I'm pretty sure that technology and progress have moved a little fast for you, too.  See the USA in a Chevrolet was a catchy theme song on a commercial.  Who would have ever dreamed that places we only saw in books or in movies would become so accessible!  Let's not even think about moon landings and pictures from Mars!

My husband used to tease me because I am one of those right brained people that couldn't ever fold a road map to its original condition.  I was essentially, origami challenged.  I don't have to worry about that anymore.  Technology has provided me with GPS and a map on my phone, and, with the touch of a button, it will even show me the roadblocks and traffic patterns around the city!  A phone is no longer just a phone.    Phone numbers used to start with a series of letters and if you didn't have a party line, you must have been rich.  A rotary dial phone is in most homes, a thing of the past.  It takes so long to dial a 10 digit number (10 for those of us that live in cities large enough that they have multiple area codes).  Speed dial on a digital phone takes mere seconds (provided you can get a signal, that's one thing that still has a long way to go).  With all of the technical wonders that surround us every day, you would think our lives would be much simpler than they are, but I think they are more chaotic than ever.  Don't get me wrong, I am never more than a few feet from my cell phone, and if I don't play my daily run of Words with Friends and Bejeweled, I almost feel frantic.  What did we ever do without instant communication and constant entertainment at our fingertips?  Mind boggling, simply mind boggling.

Somewhere, sometime, someone decided to take some hours out of our days. Time seems to just fly by without getting anything accomplished.  Those missing hours, well they've been replaced with high anxiety and stress levels that are off the chart.  At least, it sure does seem that way.  Gosh, what fun elements to be added to our daily life.  Simply not enough hours in a day, too many things going on and roadblocks popping up at every turn, and not just on the interstate.  I don't know about you, but sometimes, I yearn for a time when things were so much simpler, a good night's sleep and fewer choices about anything and everything.  Memorable television quotes would be "yabba dabba do" and "to the moon, Alice".  Now, there is language used on both radio and tv that is so vulgar that it wasn't even whispered.  Commercials for "personal" use products are everywhere and there is a 1-800 number for things that they tell us, we can't live without, on every single one of the hundreds (or is it thousands) of channels on the tv.

I know what the solution is.  It's always right in front of me, a breath away, a prayer away, simple and complex all at the same time.  It is spirit filled but, yet it is filled with a peace beyond anything that we could ever comprehend.  It is the answer to every question, a road map for our lives, one size fits all, the perfect gift, the greatest sacrifice, forgiveness, grace, beauty, love and forever.  It is not an "it".  It is God.  It's Jesus.  Short and simple.  Walking away because there are so many other things going on,  well, that's also easy.  Making plans and having them change course halfway through, that's daily.  But, so is finding your way back, admitting that it is His plan, and not ours, that matters.

Whether we choose to admit it, roadblocks are there for a reason.  Our daily roadblocks, well, they are blessings.  God uses them to get our attention for so many reasons and those reasons are not always ours to know.  But we need to trust Him.  It's not always easy.  I know that first hand because, sometimes, I am the queen of "my way".  Been there, done that, more times than I can count.  We live in a world that is filled to the brim with "awful" things, aggravation, fear, hatred, pain, illness, death. Things that we can't fix.  There are things that leave us all stunned and grieving, overwhelmed with sadness, and events that are out of our control and beyond belief.  How do we handle that?  We trust, we feed our faith, we believe, we listen, we pray...and then...we do it all again.  Moment by moment, day by day, we get a little stronger, and then, we do it all again.  I'm so grateful that God puts things in my path to help me out.  Sometimes, it's a single song on the radio, a Christmas carol or a whole cantata.  It's a special prayer, a much needed rainy day or that one Bible verse that keeps popping up everywhere.  They are all blessings and I am so thankful for each of them.

Batteries run down in all of those "can't live without it" electronic devices, but God's batteries never run down.  He is a constant power supply for our lives, His word is our GPS, and He loves us all the time, in spite of "us" being "us".  He wrapped the greatest Christmas gift ever in pieces of ragged cloth and presented Him to the world in a rough hewn wooden trough.  He sacrificed His life for our sins and offered us forgiveness and perfect eternal life, walking in Heaven with Him.

You know that red light that seemed to last forever, well, it may very well have been God's way of keeping you out of harm's way.  Your roadblock was just one of many blessings.

It's been a long day, actually a long couple of weeks.  There are a lot of things going on right now, praying and trusting and counting blessings.  Time to head to my quiet place, and a recently discovered GOOD dose of technology - I have the audio Bible on my cell phone, and in more languages than I ever knew existed.  How cool is that!  I started the chronological Bible study.  This is one feature on my phone that is truly amazing, and that, is a good thing, a very good thing!  Definitely couldn't do that with the old rotary dial models!

Good night and Merry Christmas.  May God bless you with many more roadblocks and the faith to know that they are really blessings!

K