I have been trying to download a software update for hours. The steps are simple. The process is clear. Each attempt looks good at the beginning. On several attempts, the download speed was incredible! My optimism runs high. As I watch the counter moving along, I am filled with hope.
Then my counter stops. The connection still says I am connected. The speed indicator is there, far north of zero. After a time I get the point. Despite appearances, nothing is happening. Even though I completed all the right moves, there is no result. I am dead in the water, even as I assure myself things will come back on without changing what I am doing. If I just do it more and better, the download will happen. If I am more patient, I will get the right result.
The facts, if I am willing to look at them, do not support my way of thinking. I am a bright as some guys before me. Just because “they broke into Jason’s house, thinking that Paul and Silas were there,” (Acts 17.5) does not mean that Paul or Silas were. They were seriously well intended. They acted on their beliefs. Their attempts were as successful as mine have been today.
I wonder how willing I am to look at the facts. Is it even possible for me to set my biases aside? Am I willing to think critically, especially when it comes to things that are close to my heart?
I circle back to the software download, taking time to look at the bigger picture. There are other activities running concurrently with my primary focus. I do have multiple windows open. There is a strong chance I am the primary source of the roadblock I am trying to find. It is a fact that I do not want to believe. I want things to work the way I want them to work.
It is time to step back, focus, and simply be in the present. I find hope in this approach. It is a model worth using.
