Friday 23 January 2009

Broken Resolutions, New Computers and Wild Horses

I have broken already my only new year’s resolution , but I might try to repair it. I decided to contribute to ‘Ashley Alive’ once a week – even a small contribution.

My excuse for my failure is a new computer which was supposed to help me with this sort of thing. I thought I would have more time!!! I would not have to spend all that time looking at the screen while the Operating System does other things and ignores me.

Unfortunately the new computer is for me like wild horse training. Not that I have trained wild horses but I can imagine. My only time on a horse was not an amazing success – just hanging on and hoping I could stay there – and at the end it turned its head and bit my leg!!

My new computer is sleek and fast (compared to my old workhorse that is) but I noticed a tendency for it to carry me away me away in a gallop to new things it can do and eat up the time I thought I would gain. All that power needs to come under control otherwise it tends to carry me off into a world that shrinks to a small screen being able to do all sorts of things I didn’t know I wanted to.

There must be so much of technology (and probable life generally) that is like this and it takes quite an effort to train it (and yourself) to do want you want it to and not what it wants to do. Is it part of the perspective that God can give us when we are reminded of what really matters in our lives?

I find the Ashley prayer meeting on a Saturday morning can sometimes give me back this perspective and help me to train the wild horses that invade my life. Not a computer in sight (it may not be of course be computers for you) and a group of people to talk to and pray with. It’s worth a try if life gets out of perspective.

Anyone else have these troubles?

1 comment:

Anita said...

It's a snow day today; a whole day free of all the things I normally do on a Monday morning, like going to school, teaching, attending meetings. It feels like a gift from God; a whole day that I wasn't expecting. So what will I do with it?
I have begun by reading all the recent entries on Ashley Alive. They are great to read, but it is with a little shame that I realise that most entries are written by only a handful of people.
My life is often not so much like riding a wild horse, but being on a treadmill. It doesn't go very fast, but it doesn't stop and if I get off for very long, it's very hard to catch up and jump on again.
Today I have a whole day to do some catching up. I have already pledged to do some overdue tidying and cleaning, but having some some time to read and write with God's presence foremost in my mind is a real blessing. I hope other people, like me, that enjoy reading the comments will see the value of contributing too.