It may seem obvious to point out that I sometimes need to remember I have two hands, not just one. But I’ve found that I need to be reminded of the obvious—especially when life gets stressful.
One day I’d been working on my computer, learning a new keyboard shortcut for my MacBook Pro so I could take a screenshot. It involved holding down four keys at once to highlight the area I wanted to capture, and then tapping the touchpad.
I tried over and over to hit all four of those keys simultaneously—shift, command, #4 and the space bar—with my left hand.
A friend had told me which keys to use, so I finally called and asked her how she managed to do it.
She was silent for a second before she answered. “I hit the shift key with my little finger, the command key with my thumb, the #4 with my index finger and the space bar with the thumb of my other hand.”
Well duh. For some reason I’d been trying to do everything with just one hand. Thank goodness I’d gone ahead and asked or I’d never have figured it out. We both had a good laugh at my expense.
Scripture to De-Stress
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Long after my friend hung up, the situation stayed with me. How many other times was I missing the obvious in life? As I asked that question in my mind, I felt a nudge from the Holy Spirit. He showed me that I sometimes get so caught up in doing things the hard way that I leave God out of the equation.
It was something I did way too often during the early years of having a son in the military. Even though I had almost no experience to draw on—no one in our family had been in the military—I blundered around making every mistake in the book instead of turning to those who could help. God had populated my life with others who had loved ones serving, but I’d let my own stress and struggle blind me to the obvious and keep me from asking for help.
I was once again reminded that God is always nearby—with the simple answer. There’s never a need for me to do the impossible with my own strength.
