Editorial February 3, 1992 Issue

Have you read the instructions?

Michael D. Rissler

Instructions come with almost everything. Yet have you ever had the feeling that they're written in invisible ink? The writing never quite becomes visible until we've tried to get along without the instructions and haven't succeeded!

This is true in regard to a child's toy, specially chosen to make a youngster's Christmas happy, or in regard to the complex circuitry that makes up high-speed, modern computers. In fact, one of the first things that one learns in working with computers is that instructions are all-important. Whether you're going to write a simple note and send it out over an electronic mail network or you have in mind a book to rival War and Peace, if you don't follow the instructions and know which key or combination of keys prints out what you've typed, you're going nowhere!

The interesting thing is, much of the time when we know what to do, the actual doing isn't nearly as difficult as we might have thought it would be. Overcoming a sin or some physical ailment can be like this. When we're thinking about a particular wrong or are fearful of a certain physical condition, reform and healing may seem far off. But this is always how challenges look when viewed from "inside" the difficulty.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Testimony of Healing

Fifteen years ago, I was traveling around the country with...