What's in it for me?

by John Schrag
(North Newton, KS)

?My COMPUTER IS STUCK, Can you come help me??

Ever since we moved into a retirement village, ?Value Added? seemed like a long distance call. Often my dime seemed to lose it?s cents and simply aroused static in the line. I?d have to hang up the idea but, I never gave it up. Whenever we fail to score, we can always put up a new goal. Goals are our targets and we need to follow the arrows to varied levels of achievement. One of the ways I?ve found to pry value added into output is by leveraging creativity. Wait, what does that mean?
Creativity remains stretched out flat until forced to pull itself together in trying to answer a call. To leverage creativity, table the first two potential solutions that the mind comes up with for any given problem. Pretend those options aren?t available, then send your mind down the track into deeper chambers. That?s where the tunnel with the light at one end resides. When you get your mind into that tunnel, ?Ring creativity?s bell? and shout to the Engineer, ?I need more potential solutions to solve this problem. Oh yes, don?t forget to bring a bump or two of God?s presence back with you too.?
When we moved into the retirement village I did establish a new goal. I challenged myself to be instrumental in adding value by doing some kind of community service.
To kick start my goal, I chose to post a, free service for small computer generated jobs, advertisement on the bulletin boards. What I had in mind was toi help develop original greeting cards, fancied up thank you notes, thinking about you?s, custom fit individualized poetry, etc., etc. My first call was, My COMPUTER IS STUCK, Can you come help me? I knocked on the door of a resident with a computer that quit responding altogether. Well, that wasn?t exactly what I meant with my post------------ so what? I accepted his invitation to come in, hoping

my creative juices and God?s guiding hand, would carry me through.
I used leveraging creativity to handle this, my first computerized challenge. Options on deck were to
#1 Tell that resident right up front that he misunderstood the heartbeat of my post. I tabled that thought.
#2 Reboot his computer and risk unsaved material skadoodling down the drain. I tabled that one too.
I give creativity and guided thinking a good share of the credit for the third possible solution that came to mind which was
#3 Instruct the computer to end all programs gracefully allowing the option to save recent additions and start over from desktop.
The third potential solution came from deep;er chambers of thinking and was illuminated by the light at the end of the tunnel and, it fixed the problem. This resident was ecstatic and called me his Computer Angel. Word spread quickly that this new village resident is a computer expert. To date, this computer angel, with God?s help, has made more than seventy five community service calls, anywhere from printers that have strayed to email hiccups. Leveraging creativity and leaning on God?s presence, we stand assembled before you with a phenomenal success record.
What?s in it for me? It is one of the most rewarding things I have ever done and look at me, I didn?t start young.
An interesting side note to ponder - it is nigh impossible for these folks to accept ?free? service so, they send me home with appreciation gifts. Home made poppy seed rolls, Maple Syrup with 75 years of the same family processing history, Fresh Lemon Curd, a home made walking stick and books to read just to mention a few.
You can hang this on your refrigerator door
By the grace of God, find comfort in sharing your creativity, direct your unpolished expertise to enhance the better good of God?s kingdom on earth and You will find nourishment from the sweet juices squirting forth from the fruits of the spirit.