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.