The battery on my keyboard was dying. A notice popped up to alert me, and I found a pair of fresh ones. John showed me where to change them, and it was a relief to discover that I didn't need a special screwdriver. A penny would do the trick. 

 

We belong to the segment of humanity that goes rummaging in the basement for the right sized wrench, when what we want to be doing is use the appliance. My Featherweight sewing machine, for instance, requires a teeny screwdriver to adjust bobbin tension. Some engineer whose wife had probably begged him multiple times to help her, made a genius change in Berninas. You simply push on the corner and the throat plate pops out. I read that that is the scenario behind band aids. A man whose wife kept calling him home from work to bandage up her mishaps created little gauze pads she could apply by herself. 

 

IKEA addresses the dilemma by including all necessary wrenches and phillips heads with the wooden components of their furniture. No time is lost before you start construction. 

 

Then there are those folks whose complete set of 450 craftsman tools are still in the box. Not only that, they are still shiny. Maybe because they stay in the cabinet. 

 

It could be suggested that our purpose on this planet is for building things. Relationships, moral character, family systems are created by effort over long periods. The implements that assist us are those handy openers like the Ten Commandments and Do Unto Others. 

 

On occasion I have been on the fringes while people argue about the rules. They bicker over the size and length of the regulations, when we might all make better use of our time by putting them to work. 

 

Personally I think God is even more clever than that Bernina innovator, or the IKEA team. He gives us a means that is as ubiquitous as a penny. 

 

Be kind.