An Idiot Moment

Lydia and I confidently walked to her classroom. She was excited that Mommy was coming in today to work in her class. I was excited, too, just to be able to spend time with her. But my excitement quickly diminished as the teacher approached me with a job.

“See these flash cards that Connor’s Mom made? Could you finish these? They need to be laminated and …..” his voice droned on but I wasn’t listening. All I could hear echoing in my head was “Laminated, laminated, laminated”.

Panic was setting in. I’m a stay at home mom not a machine operator! Through a stiff smile I managed to say, “Sure!” If Connor’s mom can do it so can I! With trepidation I walked into the work room.

Another sucker mom was fiddling with a project. She looked up at me and gave a half smile that said “I don’t have a clue as to what I’m doing.”, but all she said was “I think you need to have a degree to work these machines!” This was not going to go well.

As other moms began pouring into the room with projects, I noticed that some were apprehensive and others were old pros at the work worm. Well, I was not going to look like an idiot here. I confidently walked over to the monster laminator machine. Good, it was already hot. I began feeding my paper into it, held my breath, and checked the other side when it came out. It was working! Just as I was breathing a sigh of relief, the plastic ran out. I pushed stop and walked out of the room in search of a secretary.

After informing the secretaries that they needed to replace the rolls, I marched back into the workroom to wait. As I came closer to the laminator, I realized something was wrong! Instead of stopping, the laminator reversed! All my papers were being rolled back up into the machine!

I rushed over and pounded on the STOP button. After three tries it finally stopped. Quickly I glanced around to see if the other moms had noticed. With relief, I saw that they were busy about their own work to notice my goof up. Then it hit me, “The secretaries are coming! I can’t let them see that I jammed the machine!” I set to work at reversing, pulling, yanking, forwarding, reversing, pulling, yanking, forwarding, but eventually the machine stopped and would not cough the rest up. Great! Now I’ve earned the Idiot of the Day Award! The secretaries came in, saw my predicament, and were filled with compassion. They assured me that it was the machine’s fault for being so temperamental. You got that right, sister!

The moral of the story is don’t assume anything. I assumed that when I pushed the STOP button that the laminator would stop. I did not wait to see it actually come to a stop before I left the room. Spiritually speaking, don’t assume that because you are a Christian you are exempt from temptation. Sure, Satan can’t possess you, but he can cause you to do his bidding if you’re not being watchful. He can use unconfessed bitterness to tear a church apart. He can use selfishness to make you focus on using your gifts for yourself instead of for God. He can use your unkind words to destroy a faithful Christian. Don’t assume that because you are a Christian you will always be standing on the side of God.

That is why God encourages us to be watchful. 1Peter 5:8- “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: ” If I had been watchful, I could have avoided ruining some of the project and jamming the laminator. Spiritually, if I am watchful of my attitudes, hobbies, and other things in my life, I can avoid harming myself and the body of Christ. Christian, be watchful!

PS ( Another “idiot moment” – I was straightening my hair and “straightened” my ear instead. Moral of this story is don’t straighten hair in haste!)

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