It’s amazing where you can find inspiration from. It’s amazing the lessons you learn as you grow older and the source of some of those lessons.
This past year has been a whirlwind of lessons for people on so many levels about so many things in our lives and the strength and status of those things. And while many people look at 2020 as a horrible year (and there have been some extremely low moments and tough experiences), there have been some major life lessons that I’ve learned along the way.
But who knew that technology would be the teacher? I knew that our world was wired for technology, but I didn’t realize how much technology was woven, or could be woven, into the fabric of our lives until COVID-19 forced everybody to switch to online lives, more than before. Here are a couple of the lessons that I learned along the way:
Addressing One Issue Can Solve Multiple Issues You Didn’t Know Was Related
Before COVID-19 took over the world, when we were all free (well, more free) to drive around and go where we wanted to go, I drove around Orlando to different places like nothing was wrong. But I noticed something WAS wrong … with my car.
I’ve had my car, my silver 2008 Limited Edition Toyota Avalon, since 2014. And she has been a faithful ride-or-die who has not given me hardly any problems, other than occasional flat tires (but that’s more my fault than her fault). I named her Whitney, after my favorite singer Whitney Houston, and love her dearly. People often joke that she is not a Toyota because of how luxurious she appears.
But in February of this year, one afternoon while sitting in a traffic jam, I noticed something strange; the needle that indicated the engine temperature was moving up, moving toward the Hot end of the radar. At first, I thought my eyes were bothering me from staring into the sunset too long, because my car wasn’t overheating, was it? But the longer I stared at it, the more I began to notice it moving, slowly but surely, toward the Hot end. I began to grow nervous and scared; was my car about to burst into flames? Was Whitney about to die from a car-related fever? What was I going to do? Luckily, I was able to drive her forward and keep the car from overheating.
That wasn’t the only thing that I noticed was wrong with her though; one day, as I was leaving from meeting up with a friend, I tried to blow my car horn … and nothing happened. My car horn wasn’t working. Then I noticed that my temperature gauge for the outside temperature was reading “Error.” Then, the windshield wipers weren’t working. Then, the headlights weren’t working properly. Then, the air conditioner wasn’t working the best (and that’s not good in Florida).
It seemed as if Whitney was slowly falling apart at the seams. The list of things that needed to be fixed or addressed was stretching longer and longer. But, before I could start addressing things, COVID-19 hit and I was stuck inside for months.
The world has been slowly trying to reopen and adjust to a new normal. Which meant that I was starting to drive a little bit more again, forcing me to face the very issues that I had tried to push aside and ignore in my car for months. And now, it seemed the issues were worst because of the heat of Florida; my car would heat up much faster to the point that I would turn my car off in traffic while at red lights to keep it from overheating.
I couldn’t deal with it anymore and I finally had to take it into the shop to be repaired. The mechanic told me that one of the computer systems in my engine had failed, basically not telling the radiator fan to turn on and cool the engine down. So after a week in the shop, the computer system in the car was repaired and Whitney was back to normal. But this was what amazed me the most; the computer system that needed to be fixed for the radiator engine also controlled everything else that I noticed was wrong with my car. Everything was connected to each other, so by addressing one issue, I had solved about six issues at the same time.
Isn’t that amazing? But isn’t it also sad that we do ourselves the same way? How many times have we dealt with one issue, and realized that Issue A is connected to Issues B-J too? We try to address each issue on its own, only to find that they are connected to each other. And when we feel overwhelmed by those issues, we ignore them, just like I tried to ignore Whitney’s issues, until they almost blow up in our face? And the only way to address these issues was to bring the car to the manufacturer. Well, who is our manufacturer? None other than Jesus Christ.
The Bible says “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” (I Peter 5:7). That means we have to take EVERYTHING to Him at once. Just like I gave my whole car to the shop to be fully repaired and address one issue that was connected to other issues, we have to take ourselves to God and allow Him to do the work to address one issue that is connected to multiple issues. Especially then the issue that needs to be addressed is the root issue. The computer in my car controlled so much more than I realized; there are root issues that control so much more in my life than I realize, and won’t realize until I address them.
Everything Works Again If You Shut It Off For A Little While
I love having an iPhone. But I’m at the end of my rope with mine.
Over the past few months, I’ve struggled with my phone. Photos won’t upload; I’m constantly running out of space so I can’t take new photos or videos or get my email, apps will randomly shut down on me or not open, I’ll miss phone calls because the phone won’t ring, or I won’t get text messages from people … it’s a mess and frustrating to say the least.
I finally broke down over the summer and went to Verizon to see if they could tell me that was wrong. The representative I spoke with told me that my phone was basically suffering from information overload; I was trying to do some much with a phone that was designed to only carry so much in its system. But I was pushing it beyond it’s boundaries and it was suffering. Now, of course, they tried to sell me a new phone on the spot, but the way my bank account it set up, I couldn’t do it then.
So now, when my phone has a moment, often I turn it off and let it rest for a few moments before I turn it back on and continue as normal. When I do that, most everything works again, as if five minutes ago, I wasn’t about to throw it against the wall of my bedroom.
But we are the same way. Especially now, with so much news and information available all the time, coming in through so many channels, we are all suffering from information overload in a sense and we can also burn out because of it. I literally have news alerts and updates coming to me on the daily. I used to say “Well, I studied journalism” or “I’m a former news reporter” to justify why I was open to getting so much news and information sent to me constantly.
But even I had to admit, that wasn’t working anymore for me. I found myself almost dreading looking at my phone or computer because of everything that was coming in constantly. And for a while, I felt like I couldn’t escape.
But I could. I just had to shut myself down. I had to reach a place where I told myself, “No, today I will not spend hours reading stories on social media or researching what’s happening in the world. No, today, I’m putting my phone away and allowing myself to binge-watch some TV for a couple of hours.”
And I feel so much better when I do that. I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders and my mind is so much better focused. Just needed to shut down for a little bit.
Open to More Technological Teachings
I know there is a lot of stress and strain with online teaching this year, but I’m open to more growth, more lessons through technology, or whatever other avenues they come.
Are you?
The Book of James 