Redisplay

One step away. Have you ever been just one step away from success? One move away from victory? One try away from getting it right?

This super-fun life lesson happened to me a few months ago at work. I had been shown how to do this one, simple task several times on the computer. I had practiced this particular task with veterans of the job. I had notes. For real, I have a whole 3-ring binder titled, “Jodie’s in A Bind Binder” full of notes allowing me to do my job right.

Then it came time for me to do the task on my own. At each attempt, I would get to a point where it didn’t look like it did when others would perform the task. So, I would stop and go get help every time, unsure of the next steps, as if I was not capable of learning how to do it on my own. I actually uttered the words, “I guess you really can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”

During one of my run-and-get-help instances, a supervisor offered to walk me through it again step-by-step. She recognized my assumption that I was doing it wrong and she said, “You’re not doing it wrong. You just need to click redisplay at this point.” When I hit redisplay, the screen changed and it all came together like it was supposed to! My notes were spot on, but one simple word, one single step, was missing: redisplay. Mind blown, I excitedly exclaimed, “Sugar and spice, are you kidding me? That’s it? That’s what was keeping me from finishing?”

If I had continued running and asking for help—never actually learning the next step—I wouldn’t have completed the task and experienced all of the excitement of doing it by myself with no notes in front of me. Thanks to my efforts and learning how to do it right, when I finally completed the task on my own, I jumped up from my desk and instead of asking for help I ran to tell everyone, “I did it! I did it! I did it!” while doing a little celebration dance.

Are you one step away from completing that application you’ve been putting off? You could be one more, get-back-up away from landing that back handspring. One try away from not being rejected this time. One look away from finding The House. One yes away from the perfect opportunity. One prayer away from healing. You’re not too old. You’re not too young. You’re not too behind. You’re not too busy.

Click redisplay on your mindset. This time things could all come together.

What if Abraham and Sarah simply didn’t believe God’s promise and quit trying to have a baby?

What if Esther hadn’t requested the second dinner party? Her and her people may have been killed.

What if Samuel hadn’t kept interviewing Jesse’s sons?

What if Mary hadn’t kept trying to persuade Jesus to produce more wine at the wedding? He wasn’t ready for his ministry of miracles to start but then comes mom…ministry started.

What if Jesus hadn’t kept going back to the garden to pray? Thankfully we’ll never know. He’s pro at coming back!

Redisplay. Never stop trying. Never stay down.