Mixed messages

Asherel was gone all day volunteering at a horse camp. She was responsible for teaching the campers how to draw. I hoped she was having more success than me. I was home ripping my hair out while trying to learn the new Sketchbook program for my "new" old laptop. I have 13 more free trial days, and then must decide if the learning curve for this program is too steep for an old grey mare like me. I had an incredibly frustrating hour drawing, though somehow still produced an abstract piece that I didn't hate...but wondered why the computer touch screen was so totally unresponsive, and lagging behind my pen so badly. Then I realized that if I turned off the mouse, the computer stopped trying to listen to the mouse, and listened to my stylus input. It was distracted! The problem had not been an incapability of the computer; it had been mixed messages scrambling its brain. Oh my! I felt sorry for my poor computer. I could so totally relate!

I think it is the same reason the Bible tells us that Jesus goes off to solitary places to pray to His Father. The distractions of the world snag the line of communication, muddling the reception. It is best to turn off all the conflicting allures and focus on the one thing that really matters with single minded devotion. If we don't, as my computer showed me, nothing works the way it should.

1 Corinthians 7:35

New International Version (NIV)

35 I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord.