by Brandon Jubar

It started off simple: I was reading and responding to email. Then there was a Word attachment I wanted to look at, so that program was opened. Then came an Excel spreadsheet, followed by a PDF file. A couple messages had links to Web sites, which lead to two browsers and several windows being opened. And...

Well, you can figure out the rest. In no time, I was cruisin' right along in my typically disorganized manner, jumping from one task to another. I had Microsoft Outlook (and a couple partially completed email messages), four browser windows (two in IE and two in Netscape), three documents in Word, two spreadsheets in Excel, an e-book in Acrobat Reader, and a NotePad text file, all open at the same time.

"Multi-tasking" or "disorganized" -- whatever you call it, and however you describe it -- my computer finally said "enough already!" and stopped responding altogether.

I wonder if our minds are like that sometimes?

The old analogy is "having too many irons in the fire". But what happens when you put too many irons in a fire? Is anyone familiar with blacksmithy? I'm certainly not.

I am familiar with computer problems, unfortunately, as are most of you reading this. So maybe we need a new analogy for this technological age. One that teaches because the consequences it implies are clear to us today. So I propose this:

"I've got too many apps running."

When I have too many applications open, my system resources are overtaxed, and my computer tends to lock-up and stop responding. Kinda like life.

When I try to do too many things at once, I may end up getting even less done than if I had focused on a single task from the start. In fact, I can get to a point where I feel overwhelmed and can't even decide what to do next.

With computers and with life, that's when it's time to reboot. As Christians, that means opening ourselves up to God. Through prayer and reflection, through Mass and the Sacraments, we are able get back in touch with what is most important. And with Catholicism as our operating system, we really do have a stable platform on which to run life's "applications".

So the next time your computer -- or your life -- locks up on you, don't panic. Take some time to reboot your system, and you'll be surprised at how well things can run.

Peace,
~Brandon

Sound off! Tell me what you think!
bjubar@ParishWebmaster.com

Copyright 2002 by Brandon Jubar
This article has been provided by ParishWebmaster.com