Take the Shortcut? – Day 22 of Handmade
Help
I need help.
When I’m working on my laptop, I prefer to use the keyboard instead of my mouse when possible.
And there’s a way to do that.
Use keyboard shortcuts. Shortcuts are great for minimizing motion and for speeding up a process.
Shortcuts Steal Time
But shortcuts in real life aren’t always helpful. Sometimes shortcuts get us in trouble instead. They can bypass a legitimate process we need to work through.
Such as spiritual growth.
Genuine evolvement rarely happens through a shortcut.
Granted, we can have flash-like moments of transformation. God is capable of anything.
But more often than not, strengthening a relationship, whether human or divine, takes time.
- It takes time to have long conversations with God.
- It takes time for God’s words to sink in deeply.
- It takes time to build relationships with God’s other children.
I don’t want to be short-changed on time with God and the things from God.
Move Ahead
So I save my shortcuts for things like typing. I try to learn a new keyboard shortcut every few weeks.
My favorite keyboard shortcut this year has been this one:
Command + Shift + T – Opens up the most recently closed tab in your browser.
It has saved me many, many times when I want to reopen a browser window that I accidentally closed and want to reopen.
With the quick keyboard shortcut, I can return to where I was.
But with God, I don’t want to just return to where I was.
I want to keep moving forward.
And if it takes time to do that, I want to invest in that.
I need his help to do it.
And with his help, I can.
Three Questions
Here are our three questions of the day:
(1) When online, do you keep a lot of tabs open at once? Or do you X out of a window after each use?
(2) Do you have a favorite shortcut, whether digital or in everyday life?
(3) Has God provided shortcuts in your spiritual growth or do you usually take the long road together?
* * *
What are your answers? Please share in the comments.
My answers
(1) I’m a chronic closer of tabs. Sometimes too quickly.
(2) Another online shortcut with a Mac: To go back and forth between open applications (like from email to Word then back), click Command + Tab. I use this ALL the time.
(3) Spiritual growth typically happens slower for me than I’d like. But occasionally God will give me a quick burst of insight or change to keep me filled with awe at his power.
Here’s a list of 20 top keyboard shortcuts. You’ll know several already, but you might discover some new ones.
This is so applicable, Lisa! I love the copy and paste shortcuts more than anything, and if I’m being honest, I generally ask God to help me run through hard seasons instead of slowly walking through them. We’re in a challenging season right now, and more than ever, I want to RUN! But sometimes running isn’t an option, and so I’m allowing him to do that slow chiseling that happens in the valley. Not easy, but always worth it!
Well, I have to confess that I usually have several tabs open at once and when I am finished I just close out the entire thing by clicking on the main X. 🙂
A favorite shortcut…Keeping the spray bottle of bathroom cleaner close by so that when I finish in the shower I can go ahead and wipe it down.
When it comes to God we take the long road together. I’ve tried using some of “my shortcuts” to get prayers answered, but it never works. I’ve learned it is best for me to just settle in with God and get to know Him better as we travel that long road together.
My kids laugh at me with all my tabs open at once. It’s ridiculous really, how many I have open at once. The only time I don’t have multiple tabs open is when I’m writing a draft, and then I close everything but Word and try to stay focused.
And the only “shortcut” I know of for spiritual growth is one that I don’t like and certainly don’t volunteer for, and that’s the path of suffering. I know that when our family has come through a tough season, or when I’ve been in a valley personally, growth is usually going on in unseen places.
This is such a great analogy. I love keyboard shortcuts and I have to say, I do sometimes try the shorter route to spiritual growth. But when I do that, God has a way of making me redo the lesson.
Thank you for sharing the control + shift + T shortcut. I accidentally close tabs all the time! I tend to keep lots of tabs open at once.
Shortcuts to spiritual maturity just don’t work. They remind me of my dad’s “shortcuts” he used to take while driving. It would take us longer to get there than if we had not followed his shortcut! 🙂
Wow! Thank you for that shortcut! I do that too frequently – close a tab accidentally or when I think I am done, but I am not.
1) I keep my gmail, Facebook, and Feedly tabs open almost all the time – though I close Facebook if I am trying to get something done. Almost everything else I close as soon as I am done. I can’t stand to have too many open at once.
2) I know I do, but I can’t think of any right now. My main shortcut with housekeeping is prevention. For example, if I pour the remains of a coffee cup down the sink, I run a little water so it doesn’t leave a stain, so I don’t have to clean it later. Now if I could only get the rest of the family to do that….
3) I don’t know of any spiritual shortcuts. I think in the past I thought I’d get a shortcut through a book that would answer all my questions and solve all my problems. 🙂 But, though I am a book person, no one book besides the Bible will do that (and the Bible does not even answer all our questions). I can gain from what others have learned in books, but I’ll still have more growing to do in every area until I get to heaven.
Now that I think about it, I guess one worthwhile shortcut is confessing sin to God as soon as we’re aware of it. I used to hold off, either due to shame, or because I weasn’t quite ready to give it up. But it’s not worth hanging on to, and He took care of the shame when He took care of the sin itself, so there’s no need to let that be a barrier.
Thanks for all these “shortcut” tips, Lisa! I use some but not nearly as many as I could! But you are right about there being no good shortcuts with God! Thankfully, He is always there to meet me again, even if I step away for some less important reason.
1. I always have lots of tabs open and typically don’t close out of many of them until the weekend–keeping my computer in sleep mode during the night.
2. Maybe when I create a new doc with similar format, I use “save as” a lot. Used to copy and paste those kinds of docs in the past, but not anymore!
3. I’ve never really thought about this. I’d say no, I don’t use shortcuts with Him. 😉
Thanks for getting us talking, Lisa!
I have about 63 tabs open in three browser windows ;). One of my favorite shortcuts to making bread is to add a teaspoon of lemon juice to the dough and I can skip the first rising and put it straight into the pans. I’m pretty good at spending time with God and not looking for shortcuts. I’m learning to get better at relationships with people :).
Timely post, Lisa.
Most of us want to take shortcuts and look for the easy way out.
I liken taking shortcuts, at this point in my life, to building a structure without a foundation… it fails every time.
I do one tab at a time. Like a dinosaur…
No shortcuts to being close to our Father. We still get grace, but peace from within only comes from drawing nigh unto Him.
There’s a road to downtown on PCH that cuts through a residential area that few people know. It’s my favorite legitimate shortcut.