Sad Mac! Happy Me!

A BRIEF (MAC) HISTORY LESSON! A Sad Mac is a symbol used by older-generation Apple Macintosh computers… to indicate a severe hardware or software problem. … In models made after the Macintosh II, a tune (Chimes of Death) was played.

I’m writing this in a very new way for me.  You see, earlier today, I had a “Sad Mac” experience.  No, not literally, because Macs don’t display that icon anymore. But the result was the same.  So I am not writing this blog on my beloved MacBook Pro as usual. However, as my headline image should show, my Sad Mac day is a Happy Me day.

To explain that I have to go back a bit. I’ve been working at practicing God’s presence. I’m always working on it, but it’s especially been an emphasis recently due to some time spent with a special group of ladies on Tuesday.  God is everywhere all the time, but our awareness of His presence is something that has to be developed.  I was reminded that it’s a very important thing.

When things are going well, it may not seem so. I just go about my day relying on my own abilities and knowledge. I do my job. I run my errands. I manage the household. Not rocket science. I can pretty much handle that stuff. But when things go south, I sure can use some wisdom from God. And there’s the rub. If I haven’t been practicing being aware of God’s presence, and getting and following direction from Him for the ordinary day-to-day things, then it’s likely that when I really need to hear from Him, I won’t know how to.

So, with that reminder in the last few days, I’ve been making it a priority. Today, I started out my day pretty much as usual; sang some praises, read the Bible, and prayer. But as I was doing that, I was having some thoughts that I felt like were from God.

So, I spent more time than usual on it.  And that ran me later than usual to start my planned errands.  So, I decided I’d use my Mac to work on a video, and leave the errands for tomorrow.  Then, the “Sad Mac.”  Normally, that would have majorly stressed me out.  And started me down the worry road.  I did get the computer to start, but it was acting weird.  And I had a thought.  Get ready to write this down, because it was really profound.

“A stitch in time saves nine.”

I told you it would be profound.   That couldn’t be God.  That’s my parents’ voice in my head.  I heard that a million times growing up.  But, what if it was God bringing it back to my mind, now?  It is good advice.  I chose to act in faith that it was God, since I’d been asking to hear His voice.  My usual mode would have been to just keep limping along with the computer as is, because I’m sure it will be really expensive to repair, and I can’t afford it, and it’ll probably be cheaper to get a new one, if I can just keep this one going a little while longer, etc. etc.

But, without further internal debate, I took it to a repair shop. I described what it was doing, and the tech keyed a few things into their computer, and we had this conversation,

Tech: “Yup, it’s the logic board (translation: it’s the brains of the thing… really expensive), and there’s a recall on it.”

Me: “So, what does that mean? Do I have to take it to Apple?” (translation: even more expensive and they’ll keep it forever)

Tech: “Nope, we can fix it here, and since it’s a recall part, it won’t cost you anything.”

Me: (thinking, it’s gonna take weeks) “So, how long?”

Tech: “2-3 business days.  It’s a good thing you brought it in now, because this recall offer is set to expire in a few months. They don’t announce these recalls. The only way you’d know was if you had a problem and brought it in.”

I left my Mac (not an easy thing for me to do) but with a smile on my face, because it wasn’t going to cost me anything, and it was only going to take a few days.  My Mac died, but I went to the right source for the solution BEFORE the recall expired.  You see, a stitch in time saves nine.

And I learned a valuable lesson. God cares about everything. And, He has good instruction about everything. Even the things that I can normally handle on my own. And, if I learn to listen for His instruction even about those things, life will be better.

We commit a grave error when we handle the “small stuff” on our own, leaving the “big stuff” for God.  Jesus said that if we’re faithful in little things, we’ll be faithful in big things.  Start with little things.  Start with little amounts of time being quiet, listening for God’s voice. When you have a thought, especially when it’s not one you usually have, take steps of faith that it really is God.  You can grow from there, and be far better able to hear God’s voice to know how to navigate the “big” things when they come.  And, big, tough things will come!