Ms. Fix It

My kids will tell you that I can fix anything.  Just the other day, my two year old brought me a ball of mashed together playdoh (several colors all inextricably mixed) and thought I could separate them.  HA!   But seriously, I am a mom, so I spend half my day putting toy pieces back in place, repairing jumbled puzzles, making cookies out of "ingredients", gluing things, sewing up torn pants, and on and on.

Even before I had kids, I fixed things a lot, even things I knew nothing about.

In the past 10 years I have taken apart two digital cameras, diagnosed the problem and repaired them. (The first time, I might have shocked the bejeebus out of myself three times, but by golly, I fixed it!  I still have this camera today!)  I have also taken apart a flat screen TV and aided only by You Tube videos and internet searches (and a pair of scissors, some glasses repair screwdrivers and duct tape) I repaired our 60" flat screen HDTV.  Yep, I feel like I am pretty resourceful when it comes to complicated repairs.

So tonight, when I realized my Sonicare toothbrush was no longer taking a charge, I was ready to jump on in and fix the problem.  I started with a q-tip and cleaned off the leads.  I did a little research on how the charging mechanism operates.

I was about two minutes away from taking the darn thing apart when I noticed something critical: the charger was not plugged in to the outlet.

Duh.

It got me thinking.  Sometimes we smart folks, yes, I am talking about you and me and almost all of my friends and family, we over think things.  We make things harder than they need to be.  We decide that we will apply our substantial, educated brains to a problem.  We mull it over, we ponder it, we might even rationalize it and justify it.  But in reality, there is a very simple, very clear solution right in front of us, if only we will notice it.

I have felt, at various points in my life, like I was on the verge of total failure.  I have been utterly without hope.  I have felt like I had no direction and no idea what to do next.  I have been devoid of joy.  In those moments, when we are preparing to disassemble the entire Sonicare, if only we would look up, we would discover that we are just disconnected from the source of all energy and power.

God loves you.  How do I know that for a fact?  Because I know that He loves me and I am flawed and damaged and broken.  He loves you too, every bit at much.  Don't try to repair something that isn't broken.  Just have the faith to plug in.

What do I mean by plug in?  Start small.  Read your scriptures.  Pray.  If you don't know how to do these things, ask for help!  I am happy to talk to you! Your friends, your family, your pastor, your bishop, these people are all dying to help you.  Let them in and let that power flood your life.  I promise you it will wipe away all the despair, all the lack of direction.  Your faith will return if you will just turn back to the source: Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost and your Heavenly Father.  It is my prayer that all of my friends and family who are feeling lost, dark and alone will make an effort to let Christ back into their lives.