My internet was not working yesterday afternoon and evening, not unusual since my village is still cleaning up from a big storm a week ago. I just figured the overhead lines were still being worked on. But when I still could not get online early this morning, I knew there was something wrong. And oh, I dreaded calling my wireless service provider, knowing that I could clean my entire house in the time it would take to get a REAL person to answer the phone and help me. The oh-so-friendly-automated voice greeted me like an old friend. Please enter your account number. Residential or commercial? Long distance or internet? At one point, the computerized voice even said, “I didn’t understand you.” Really? I am talking to a computer? After several bouts of returning to the main menu and repeated options, I attempted a shortcut by finally saying the words “customer service” each time I was given an obtuse choice.
The young woman who eventually came on the line asked me the same questions as the automated voice. She then began asking diagnostic questions, obviously being read from a printed list in front of her. She had me climbing up and down my staircase watching what the modem was doing, what kind it was, what model number, what happens when you …? She had me enter selective codes and delve into the mysterious realm of software settings. The technological infant in me was getting nervous, afraid that I would somehow erase the hard drive. She not so quickly surmised that the problem was not the network, but my computer. “Somehow the computer is not connecting to the wireless network,” she said in the same words I told her 45 minutes before. “Maybe you need to talk to one of our computer specialists,” she suggested in a voice that made me ask “how much is this going to cost?” I declined her offer and hung up, realizing now that I should have interrupted my husband at work in the first place or called my computer genius daughter.
I opted to call my daughter. “My wireless isn’t working,” I said.
“On your keyboard, there should be a little icon that looks like a radio tower,” she said. “Click that.” And immediately, I was connected.
I had wasted forty-five minutes of my life, wading through complicated technological procedures, and all I had to do was click a single button?
And in my daily life, how many times do I waste valuable time and effort going through the gyrations of doing things MY way, making things a lot more difficult than they need to be, and not seeking the LORD’S guidance until I have made a mess or traveled totally the wrong way? A little prayer at the onset of my day or situation or dilemma can open up my eyes and heart and mind to the most fruitful solutions. “Reveal Your day for me, LORD.” A single click or a 45 minute detour?
“All you have to do is ask.”
If any of you lacks wisdom,
let him ask God,
who gives to all men generously
and without reproaching,
and it will be given him.
James 1.5
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