Baffled

My folks have outwitted the squirrels after doing battle with them for 50 years. They finally broke down and got a "baffle"- a cylinder that slides on to the birdfeeder pole that the squirrels are simply,well, baffled by.

They are completely flummoxed, perlexed, and bewildered by this contraption. They are stopped like balloons on a porcupine. Sustenance taints them mere inches from their nose but they are stymied by technology. I can relate as they all chitter and weep unable to unlock the intellectual code needed to overcome this modern device.

Despite all my longing to understand the simplest computer task- like how to allow blog recipients to unsubscribe automatically, I have been outsmarted by mere metal and wire. I just could not figure it out.

I grew up in the era of the first color television. Computers were born in my generation and it wasn't til I was an adult that I could own one, let alone begin to understand it. It is even worse for my folks. They grew up in the morse code era. My poor mom still finds it almost beyond her to turn on Dad's new iPad and she is a very smart woman. My genius dad is similarly baffled by tabs that seem to disappear of their own volition yet are critical to using programs claimed to be "intuitively simple".
"It is like a foreign language," he roars,"and I don't want to learn it. "

My folks, the squirrels, and I lament the technology that leaves us in the dust, sliding down poles of techno advances designed to enhance life but instead lead to bouts of ranting and throwing acorns.

Yesterday my brilliant son Anders, who I am happily visiting, popped open his computer as I bemoaned the impossibility of adding an unsubscribe capability to all 2 of the adoring subscribers I have left. He logged me into the blog manager section and asked leading questions like ,"do you think maybe what you want is to edit a footer?" while the button "edit the footer" blinks on the screen. And lo and behold, my blogging viewers can now unsubscribe all by themselves. They no longer need to contact me and announce it on CNN that they have better use of their time than deleting my blog messages day after interminable day.

I thanked Anders, overjoyed with relief that this distressing issue was finally solved.
"I didn't do anything but open my computer and look at you," he said, shaking his head.

Sometimes that is all it takes. Someone willing to stand nearby while you tremulously search for the "on" button. Someone who speaks the language and wants you to succeed. Someone who will hold your heart in His hand so you can triumphantly declare,
"Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me."

I think I will go throw some seed to the squirrels.

Psalm 3:5
I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.