Plain and Simple

 Oh no. Disaster! I had recently downloaded Windows 10, at the advice of my Microsoft guru at the Microsoft store. In general, I liked a lot of the new features, but slowly , and then not so slowly, the glitches crept in.

My favorite art program no longer worked. In fact, there were no plans to update that version for Windows 10. That meant I had to spend another $57 to buy the upgrade program. I was not pleased, but I use that art program all the time. It had to be done.

Since the upgrade had some new features which I liked, I was not as upset as I might have been. But then other issues appeared. My tablet was crashing, first only infrequently, but then with more regularity. I brought it in to the Microsoft store, and showed them the strange new calamities, eyes brimming with not-too-distant tears.

My guru assured me none of this was a problem for him. He went straight to his work, and soon had untangled most of the serious concerns. He had to install several new updates I would never have found on my own, including uninstalling old 'drivers' and reinstalling new 'updated drivers.' We set up another appointment for the following day, so he could address the few remaining minor glitches. I went home thinking all would be well and that finally I would be able to get back to my book editing. I have a new book due out (hopefully) by the end of the month, but it wasn't going to happen if I didn't finish the final edit.

Eagerly, I settled down, and opened my word documents. The worst disaster of all awaited me. All of my documents were inexplicably "read only." That meant I was unable to edit any of them. I quickly researched if Windows 10 may have caused this terrible predicament. There were many people on various websites and chat groups discussing this very issue as a result of Windows 10. No one seemed to know how to fix it, though there were several suggestions. My afternoon that was to be devoted to editing, was instead devoted to ripping my hair out. I spent hours trying to fix the problem, but to no avail. In fact I may have made a mess even messier.

The next day, I returned to the Microsoft store with my tablet in hand. My guru knew something was terribly wrong when I thrust the laptop at him and cried, "The worst problem of all has materialized now!"

I explained the issue, feeling close to panic. Writing is my livelihood, and my fear is that all my books were possibly being corrupted and even lost with this new Windows 10 conversion.

My guru snatched the tablet, and his fingers whizzed across the keys. He handed it back to me.

"Fixed."

He was right. He fixed everything, and within moments. I could not have done what he did on my own, and in fact, had tried all day the day before with no success. Yet seconds in the hands of an expert, who knew what he was doing, and the terrible problem was gone.

Of course, this incident sparked thoughts of my Heavenly Expert. So many of life's issues, and the solutions, are plainly outlined in the Bible. If we would just hand it all over to God, we could be fixed instantly. But we don't. We muddle along trying as best we can to handle everything, and only make things worse. One would think we would learn that in the hands of The Master, difficulties melt away.

There will always be obstacles in life. Honestly, it is the challenges of life that make it interesting. The real angst arises not from the trial so much as from our response to it. If we could trust God completely with our eyes on His eternal promise, keeping an eternal perspective, the problems may remain, but our despair will dissipate.

Life was meant to be simple. It is we ourselves that make it so hard. Our rebellion, self-adulation, and rejection of God's plan are responsible for most of the problems in life. How I wish I could absorb this lesson completely, once and for all. The amazing grace and truth of God is that He knows I will not, but still He loves me and still beckons me near.

Here is the practical takeaway. Do you have a problem? Do a word search in the Bible on the crux of that issue. I guarantee, God has an answer. The closer you get to God, the closer you get to operating as you were so perfectly designed to do. Consider it a necessary update.
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Ecclesiastes 7:29

This is all that I have learned: God made us plain and simple, but we have made ourselves very complicated.

 Romans 8: 14-17

¹⁴ For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. ¹⁵ For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” ¹⁶ The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, ¹⁷ and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.