SAVING FACE

What does the expression, to save face, mean? The first answer that popped up in my search read: to retain respect and avoid humiliation.  Face is further described online as "a combination of social standing, reputation, influence, dignity, and honor. Causing someone to lose face lowers them in the eyes of their peers. But saving face or building face raises self-worth—obviously a better outcome for everyone."

When we hear about losing face or saving face, we’re talking about a person’s value. It’s not about being right or wrong, but how you treat people. Nowadays, it's extremely rare to see someone honored, respected, or treated with dignity--especially if, God forbid, you have a different point of view! It is bewildering. 

Let me tell you a little story that led me to think about this. Last week, I tripped on the sidewalk and fell down pretty hard, breaking my knee. Strangely, we could see no obvious reason for it. I simply came to a thin line in the concrete and my right shoe stuck, while the rest of me kept going!   

 

The only thing that saved my face, literally, was the visor of the new ballcap on my head!   When I first saw it in a store window, I burst out laughing, so my husband bought it for me just two weeks earlier. 

Make Karen Great Again!

Isn't that interesting? We know politics has been painfully divisive, but my name's being trashed by a world of critics these days. So I wear it in good humor, after about two years of hearing, What a Karen! and, You're a Karen if... 

  

Of course, Karen was one of 10 most common American names in the baby-boom era. Now, along with redefining terms and telling us what we can and can’t say, I see this as another method of demeaning people with a different worldview. It seems to me that the same people who like to cancel culture, deny history, and tear down statues, seem to enjoy ridiculing people my age.  

 

So I wear the hat and smile. Yes, my name is Karen, but I won’t be silenced!  No college professor can shame me from my views. I won’t stop thinking and I won’t let them tell me what to think. I still believe in free speech, history, two genders in creation, common sense, and Biblical values. And I believe we should love one another, too! 

 

In the end, it's interesting to ponder, the same hat that physically saved my face, can also help to build my face, defined earlier as social standing, influence, dignity, and honor! I wear it proudly!

 

FOOT NOTE (pun intended)

 

I can’t help but go back to the fact that when I fell there was no visible reason for it. We turned around and scratched our heads. No sticks or stones broke my bones! (Yes, my knee was actually fractured, though I didn't know it until 5 days later.) And as I mentioned earlier, we saw nothing but a thin gray line in the concrete. 

Just like today, there’s no apparent reason for the things that are tearing us apart and causing us to fall from peace. We have simply crossed the line. We may not know the full impact for a long time.   

Now, what's on the other side of this line, America?  It might cost us dearly, but we need to keep walking and we need to keep talking. Heaven help us, may we never lose our voice.

 

PRINTER ISSUES – PAUSE and UNPAUSE

 

I love my Brothers printer. For a mere $100, it is by far the best little workhorse I’ve ever owned. It prints a speedy 30 pages per minute, and it easily does two-sided pages.  My favorite part is that I rarely need to think about toners.  She runs two solid years without needing a replacement! 

 

By way of contrast, my old HP printer used to cost a fortune in magenta, cyan, yellow and black toners.  It seemed every six weeks I needed another toner, and they used to cost about $40 each. (They’ve probably doubled by now.)  Not so for my trusty little Brothers. I just bought a toner that will last another two years for only $15 online!  Granted, it’s only black and white, but for the rare project that requires color, I can go to a print shop.  I’ve had it over ten years now, and it still works like new. 

So, you can imagine my surprise when I ran into a printer conundrum yesterday.  Just days after struggling to get my wandering Prodigal drone home (see previous article), I came into the office to a backlog of projects and print jobs.  There’s part of a manuscript to be edited, a Torah lesson in Genesis that I’m teaching, and a new issue of Torah Sisters magazine.  I had everything plugged in and loaded the specific layout instructions for each. The only trouble is, when I hit the print command, nothing happened.  I opened the printer icon on the computer screen, and it correctly listed all the print jobs in queue.  So, what’s the hold up?

 

I checked the paper tray, looked for any possible jams or obstructions, and rebooted everything.  After some head-scratching and pondering, I noticed a little red triangle with an exclamation point in the corner of the screen. It said, DOOR OPEN.  Once again, I went around the printer, front, sides and back, making sure every tray and door was tightly closed. I shut it off, rebooted, tried again.

 

IS THE DOOR OPEN?

 

This went on for some time.   I reloaded the paper tray, pulled the toner cartridge out, opened and shut every compartment, unplugged and plugged everything again just to be sure. I shut it off and let it rest.  Oh, maybe it’s another dropped signal/WIFI issue?  No, it says it’s got a strong signal.  

 

Just as I was about to give up and walk away, I checked the queue one last time.  Everything was listed properly.  As I prepared to clear the screen and shut it down, a little window said, your printer is paused, CLICK TO UNPAUSE.

 

CLICK TO UNPAUSE?  That's so EASY!

 

What had I been doing for half an hour, but trying to tell it to PRINT the jobs that were sitting and ready to print?  When did I ask it to PAUSE?  I wasted about half an hour on this nonsense, and now it’s telling me it was paused?  Well, of course, I clicked and unpaused it!

 

Relieved as I was to see the printer finally acting like its old reliable self, churning out all the jobs in queue, perfectly, neatly stacking up in the paper tray, I was also somewhat confused. Did I unknowingly do this, or did some fluke WIFI airwave trip signals and cause this glitch? 

 

I may never know the cause, but I’m happy I don’t need to fix, replace, or purchase a new printer. The old Brothers was easily UNPAUSED and beautifully printed the 70 pages I needed.

 

 

PAUSE AND UNPAUSE

 

Meanwhile, my husband Doug was downstairs wondering why I had disappeared.  Start to finish, this ordeal lasted about 40 minutes!  Part of the problem is that I broke my knee last week and can’t bend my left leg to reach the printer comfortably.  All this checking was truly painstaking, leaning over with a cane. 

 

In my final text to him, I wrote, “I JUST got the printer going after all this time! Maybe something else to write about?”  

 

As soon as I sent that, everything clicked. I immediately smiled, and started reflecting on the common threads between my Prodigal drone losing signal and taking off without instructions, and my old faithful printer suddenly quitting on the job.  

 

These failed commands and poor performances have certainly been frustrating! But these mirror messages seem to take on much deeper meaning.  I know, I’m “going all Welshy” again (little storyteller of Wales), wanting to dig down and tap into some of the spiritual lessons here. 

I can relate the wayward drone not only to the Prodigal Son, but to the story of Jonah, the self-willed servant.  The Father gave him specific instructions, but he decided to take off and go his own way.  How could he think God wouldn’t notice?  

 

Of course, the Father never stopped loving him, and never changed his mind about the instructions either. Thankfully, for the good of 120,000 people who were spared judgment, He eventually got his wayward prophet on the same page. It took a giant storm, an enormous fish, a small fern, and a teensy hungry worm to persuade him.  Our Father can use anything!

 

Now, my paused printer reminds me of a similar disfunction, when we pick and choose when to perform and when to ignore the Father’s commands.  Far too many believers have stopped mid-stream.  They were earnest and responsive at one time, but somehow lost heart and withered on the vine. Perhaps disappointments and loss caused walls to go up. You don’t pray anymore or spend time in the Word.  You got emotionally and spiritually stuck. On the fence. Complacent. Lukewarm.    

 

Ask yourself, is the DOOR OPEN?  Am I as ready and connected and useful to God as I think I am? Or is something out of place in my life?  Do I ask God to show me if there’s anything I’m missing, as David did?  When you’re all in, you don’t hesitate. 

 

Search me, God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! See if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting! Psalm 139:23-24  

 

Behold, I stand at the door and knock.  Rev 3:20 The Lord is at the door but He waits for you to open it.  (Remember, this is spoken to believers, not the unsaved!)

 

Did I PAUSE my connection and my listening ear to the queue of God’s instructions somehow? Am I emotionally or spiritually stuck and unable to function as I should?

 

Father God, am I frustrating to you by going my own way, leaning on my own understanding, virtually shutting down, or not following your commandments as I ought? 

 

When you finally see the warning, it’s a very simple task to click the unpause, and get going again.  

 

For the Love of the Drone

In the spring of 2021, my husband retired and we bought a 22’ camper. We were experienced tent campers, but never hauled a trailer before. So, we started watching YouTube videos to pick up the tricks of the trade.  One video documented a man’s entire journey from Florida to San Diego in a small RV. It was fun to watch how he powered and charged his rig and cooked his meals. 

One habit of this adventuresome driver got me especially excited. At every camping spot he would level the camper, get out to stretch, and then fly his drone before sunset.  He wanted to chronicle his journey with daily snippets of each place he camped.  Not merely repetitive and boring shots of his rig in a parking spot, but gorgeous aerial views of the whole landscape! And what spectacular views you can get with this little gadget!  I was amazed. Everything looks better from above!

Let me tell you, the traffic jams in the city, the parking conumdrums at the gas stations, and the long hard climbs up steep mountain passes weren’t what made us want to run out and try our first cross-country trip. It’s the rainbow skies at sunset over the desert, waterfalls and mountain views that make you thirst for more!  What a beautiful country we have!  After oohing and ahhing, I said out loud, “I’d love to do that.” 

Doug knows how excited I get about taking pictures. I should have been a photojournalist.  He also knows, painfully too well, how often I beg him to stop the truck, or stop along the trail saying, “Let me get that shot real quick!” He’s so good and so understanding of me. 

So, here I am, the proud owner of a HolyStone drone! (Isn’t he the best?) 

I’ve since enjoyed capturing places we’ve camped around the country. It takes such vivid and impressive photos! I learned how to scroll the lens to get a shot of us waving from the base camp, too. What a great way to remember the places we’ve been! I love getting her up about two or three hundred feet and rotating toward the horizons to shoot what we cannot see from the ground.  Talk about a perspective changer!  

Then, in the spring of 2022, we moved into a 1700’s brick colonial in rural Massachusetts, and our RV has been set up on our private campground along a riverbank for the entire year. We have a big firepit, canopy, chairs, assorted coolers and hammocks, surrounded by mature oaks and maple trees that provide cool shade. This has been a place of joy to us all year, but I’d yet to capture any drone shots.  

So just last week, after a terrible heat wave, I finally got the drone out. There was a slight breeze, but the air was cool and conditions seemed perfect when we set it up for take-off.  

Now, how do you do this again?  I reviewed a cheat sheet of instructions about calibrating and connecting to the Wi-Fi signal. I snapped my cellphone into the remote, adjusted the antennas, and powered up.  Then, you push the elevation button, and it springs to life, hovering at about 4 feet waiting for instructions, like a good hunting dog!   

My heart races with excitement every time! I work the controls, up, up, and back over the big house.  Then, right, left, keeping away from the trees, I steered it into the clear sky.  Higher, higher! 

I was standing about 80 feet from the house (and WIFI signal), and the gentle wind didn’t seem to be affecting it.  HolyStone was holding steady, and I started snapping pictures that were clear and sharp. Beautiful!

Okay, let’s go a little further, I thought. Higher, up over the street, I got some shots of the whole yard and layout of the land over the river that looked spectacular.  This is so fun! I rotated it toward town and toward a friend’s subdivision, and shot different angles looking south and west.

While I was deciding where to go next, the drone did something I’ve never seen before! It just started took off ALL BY ITSELF!  It maintained altitude but moved steadily in the opposite direction even though I wasn’t moving the remote controls!   No! No! Noooo!

I hollered to my husband to get the car keys. “We’ll have to chase it and watch where it comes down!”  Doug ran to get his phone. Would it crash? Would it be completely destroyed?

LOST SIGNAL!  DISCONNECTED! 

Meanwhile, the green bar on my phone turned red, and a warning signal flashed,  “DISCONNECTED. YOU HAVE LOST SIGNAL.” I never took my eyes off it, walking toward the street.  My drone crossed over the houses and continued shrinking like a tiny dragonfly toward the blue sky.  

I kept trying the remote controls to no avail.  How is it still going? I wondered. And where is it going without any direction?  

We occasionally lose internet in the house, but it quickly finds the signal and we resume where we left off.  But what if the drone is too far away before the signal returns?  I guess it’s heading to Rhode Island at this point!

I was sad watching it leave. Well, I told myself, it was fun while it lasted. Thank God, my cellphone didn’t go with it! 

But I couldn’t give up or take my eyes off it.  I kept trying to steer it toward me, testing the up down control to see if it would respond.  Hoping it would! 

Finally, when it was about half a mile away, I could see through the camera in my hand, that it stopped moving away from me and picked up my signal!  It started rotating and responding to my controls!  

The indicator turned yellow on my bar.  Yes! It was picking up a faint signal again!  Come back! Come home! I kept calling to my little bug in the sky.  

I really didn’t want to hit that “emergency home” button. I’d read that might have steered her straight into trees or powerlines, sustaining serious damage.  Instead, I was able to steer it all the way back to our little clearing for a safe clear landing, right where we began.

My wild little drone had come to her senses and returned home, unharmed!  

From now on, I’m calling her, the Prodigal. She went on a wild adventure, but hopefully, she will never leave home for that long again.

Food for thought:  

John 15 -  Stay connected to the One who loves you.

Luke 15 – The joy of being found and coming home.

Eph 2:12-13  Remember, you who were once far away, alienated and disconnected from the Father, without God and without hope in the world, have been brought near through the love of One who never gave up on you--Messiah.