Back to square one

   I have a love/hate relationship with computers. There are times when everything works well, and I love that I'm able to accomplish the tasks they allow me to accompish. But then there are times when nothing seems to go right. For whatever the reason, my computer seems to make it's own decisions, far removed from what I'd like it to do. When this happens, I tend to stare at the screen for a few seconds, wondering what the heck is going on.
   The worst part is when I've tried everything I know to correct the situation, and the problem remains. I then do what most of us do. I go online, type in a Google search that best describes the problem I'm having, then weed through the hundreds of articles posted online until I find something that makes sense. Of course, what I've discovered is that just because something makes sense does not mean that it will correct the problem.
   If I'm not able to find the solution to my problem online, I'll ask friends who have some level of computer savvy if they know what I can do to resolve the issues I'm experiencing.

   I like to think of myself as a patient man, but I'll readily admit that certain computer problems I've experienced have made me want to open my studio window, grab my computer, monitor, keyboard, and any other items I may find on my desk, and launch them out the window, chuckling gleefully as they crash on the driveway below.

   On occassion, I've had to take whatever project I'm working on back to page one. Regardless of how much of my heart and soul I've poured into that project, it's sometimes easier to just start over than it would be to try to trace back through every step I've taken and correct each misstep. When I do this, I'll usually come across a step that I recognize as being the one that sent my entire project into a tailspin, and it all suddenly makes sense.

   When starting over, I'll usually be asked one simple question: "Are you sure you want to delete this?" I can't even begin to tell how how many times I've stared at the screen when that question has popped up and said "Um.........no..........not really." It's hard to throw away something we've poured so much of our heart and soul into.............but sometimes we have no other choice.

   Ahhhh............if only our lives were as simple as computers.

   If we could only find ourselves in bad situations, and hit CTRL+ALT+DELETE, or ESCAPE, or something, and find ourselves back at the point where a bad decision was made, fully able to start over as if what we had done had never happened, but armed with the knowledge of where we had made a wrong turn.

   Unfortunately, our lives are far more complicated than our computers. Even if we do decide to start over at some point, we'll still have to live with the heartache of knowing where we went wrong, and the damage we've done to ourselves and to others with our words or actions. We will still look back at the time we spent pursuing things we shouldn't have, and wish we would've spent that time pursuing the things we should have. We'll still have moments when we look back over the years and imagine where we'd be today had we stayed on the right path.

   Fortunately, God - in His grace - has offered us a DELETE button. He is always there for us when we feel lost and confused. He's always willing to forgive and restore us.

   No matter where we find ourselves in life, and no matter where we have made wrong turns, we can always depend upon Jesus' words written in Matthew 6:25-34

 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?  Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?"

 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?  So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. "

   No matter where we might find ourselves, we can always stop and make the decision to ".......seek first his kingdom and his righteousness....."

   Will this take away the pain of knowing how we have hurt others? No. Will it remove us from the natural consequences of our actions? No. But it can and will bring us back to square one in aligning our lives to the will of the God who created us.

   At that point, we can ask for forgiveness and know that He has forgiven us. And what's more, we can move forward in confidence, and when we once again come across the same step that sent us into a tailspin in the past, we can take a different step being blessed with the wisdom and knowledge that can only come from having experienced the results of our initial misstep.