Visible and Invisible

What frustrates you?

What ratchets up your blood pressure making it hard to think clearly?

What makes you want to throw something?

Your answer?

Here’s mine: computers and their close relative, the internet. The thing I want to throw? My computer, of course.

Take Monday, for instance. Since computers are a source of my frustration it doesn’t make much sense that I would sign up for an online course, but that’s what I did. The class, offered through the continuing education department of our local school district, was scheduled to start on October 3.

Bright and early on Monday, the first day of class, I clicked on the link for the online courses and was presented with the home page. I entered the user name and password that I had used to register for the class. The site returned a message that one or both of these were not correct. I thought that perhaps I mis-typed and tried again with the same result. I checked to be sure I was using the correct user name and password. I was.

There it was, the first prick of frustration.

“Perhaps,” I thought, “I need to create a new account for the class.” There was not an option for creating a new login. Frustration noticeably increased.

A few days before the first class day, I had received a cryptic message from the continuing education office that contained a contact name, email address and phone number just in case I had any questions or problems which, as it happened, I was currently experiencing. I called the number and was confronted with an automated voice and several choices, none of which seemed to fit my situation exactly. I did not choose wisely, got disconnected and had to start all over. This time I choose the right one and found myself on hold. After almost two minutes a message came on that they were having “unusually high calling volumes”, but I could leave a message by pressing 1. I pressed 1 and was promptly disconnected.

The frustration was so thick that I couldn’t think clearly. I was drowning in a sea of black with no one to save me, no friendly hand to haul me out of the miasma, no lifesaver thrown to my rescue.

There was an email address though. Email sent. And I waited. For the rest of the day.

Finally, I told my husband about my problem. This is always my last resort, because he hates the way I have my personal computer–emphasis on personal–set up. So not only is it frustrating for me, it’s frustrating for him. He had no better luck getting in than I did, except that he was smart enough to go to the school district’s website, found the direct number of the community education contact person and left her a voice mail. Now we both waited.

Next day: I tried the login credentials again thinking that perhaps they were having trouble with their site. It happens. But not this time.

Phone number again. I steeled myself for voice mail hell. To my surprise, I got a human. She couldn’t help me, but the woman who could would call me back in five or ten minutes. “What are the odds?” I thought, rolling my eyes.

Butch and I went to lunch, Subway, my favorite for weekday lunch. While we were there, he got an email from the district woman with new login credentials for me and a promise to help if I have any more problems.

I know that frustration with my computer grows out of the reality that I don’t understand it. Then add the internet which resides I-don’t-know-where. If I can’t see it, how am I going to understand it?

However, there are lots of other things in my life that cause me frustration. Some I can see, like people, and some I can’t see, the internet. And I know, but don’t like to admit, frustration is an unavoidable part of life.

While ruminating on this, a Bible verse popped in my head, one I memorized a long time ago. It goes something like this: in Jesus all things were created, things that are visible and things that are not visible*. My computer and the internet fall in there somewhere. But so do the weeds in my yard, the gray hairs on my head, and the disagreeable checker at the grocery store. Visible and invisible includes all the things that cause frustration. Because Jesus created them, he is able to handle them for me. I can place my frustration in his hands and get it out of my heart.

The emailed login credentials worked. I’m in. I’ve completed the first week’s lessons. Things visible and invisible. No more frustration… at least for now.

* Colossians 1:15-20