Life has its many ups and downs. There are some weeks when there are more downs than ups, but if I didn’t have a down, I probably wouldn’t appreciate an up.
Last week was one of the down weeks. One day, we lost electricity for maybe six hours, another day my printer died and then some scammer tried to get money out of me by telling me my daughter was in jail and needed bail money.
I’m not sure if it can get any worse, but I’m going to keep my eyes open. Fortunately, the electricity came back, and the scammer, well, let’s say he didn’t get my money.
The printer was the worst thing. I’ve had the printer about six years, and use it just about every day. I never anticipated that it would just die one day.
I ordered a new one, and after it came I set it up with Wi-Fi, and it worked very well. The next step was to connect it with my computer.
For several hours, I worked trying to connect the two devices. With no luck, I was at the point of giving up.
Just then, The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage, wife Martha, came into my office and asked how the printer was working.
“Well,” I stammered, “I can’t connect it to my computer. I’ve tried all morning and it’s not working at all. I don’t know what to do.”
She looked at me and said something I wasn’t really expecting to hear, “Let me see, maybe I can fix it for you.”
Martha has many identities, and one of them is Miss-Fixer-Upper. Everybody knows that there’s not a problem she can’t fix.
So she sat down at the computer, while I walked to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee, knowing that there was no way she could fix it.
Walking back in with my coffee, she said, “There, it’s fixed. Try and see if it prints.”
I chuckled again; knowing there was no way she’d fixed it.
I had my computer pull up a document and sent it to the printer.
Wouldn’t you know, the document started printing.
“I don’t think you’ll have any trouble now, but if you do just let me know.”
This past year, we celebrated our 54th wedding anniversary. In all those years, I can’t think of one problem she hasn’t been able to fix. If she can’t fix it, then it’s not broken. If it’s broken, she can fix it. How she does that is above my pay scale.
Pondering this, I came to one conclusion. The only thing she hasn’t been able to fix is me. Maybe one day she’ll fix me, but then people may not recognize me.
As I was printing a few things, I thought of a Psalm.
“ He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.”
— Psalm 147: 3
There’s no problem or difficulty in my life that God can’t fix, if I let him. That’s the problem. I need to turn everything over to God and allow Him to do in my life what He is great in doing.
Everything God fixes in my life reveals His amazing grace.
Dr. Snyder is a former pastor who lives with the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage, wife Martha, in Ocala, Fla. His email is [email protected].
