Plugging into the Power Source

Plugging into the Power Source

         Several years ago I was preparing to leave work one evening after a long day at an In-patient rehab center.  As I was walking down the hall toward the exit, I waved to one of the residents who was lying in his bed and bid him a good evening.

          “Hey, can you help me for a second?” He called out as I passed.  I returned to his room to see what he needed. “I can’t get my remote to work so I can watch some TV this evening.”

          Knowing that he was quite disabled at the time and unable to get out of bed without a lot of help, I realized that the remote for the television was his only link to the outside world for the rest of the night.  Rather than leaving him stuck with only one channel or having to ring his call light and have the nurse come down every time he wanted to switch the station, I set down my bag and agreed to help.

          Of course, the first brilliant thing I did was to point the remote at the black screen and punch the buttons repeatedly, somehow thinking that my thumb might be more magic than his to activate the TV.  Nothing.

          Next I flipped open the back of the remote and spun the batteries around a bit in the holders and tried punching the buttons… again Nothing.

          So I left the remote and offered to go get some new batteries from the maintenance room on the other side of the building.  Finding the maintenance staff gone for the evening and the door locked, I then had to go on a search for the evening supervisory nurse who would have the key to the door to get the batteries.

          After several minutes, I finally located her and she handed me a ring of keys.  Returning to the maintenance room, I began to shuffle through the 15 or so keys, trying each one in the lock…. None of them fit.

          Searching again for the charge nurse, I explained the dilemma, to which she chuckled and handed me another set of keys, stating that she had handed me the wrong set of keys the first time.  Returning to the storage room, I again shuffled through a dozen keys before finding the correct one. After searching through several drawers, I finally found some new batteries, returned the keys to the nurse, and then made my way back to the patient’s room.

          It had taken so long, that I was sure the poor fellow had assumed I had left and ditched him for the night.  After laughing and explaining why I had had been delayed, I triumphantly placed the new batteries in the remote and punched the power button…. Nothing!

          Figuring the entire remote was faulty, I apologized and again left to track down the nurse with the keys, again returned to the maintenance room, and located another new remote control, returned the keys to the nurse and once again went back to the patient’s room, put the new batteries in the new remote and punched the programming button…. Again Nothing!!!

          Exasperated, I just about chucked the remote out the window!  At that moment, I happened to glance down by the garbage can and something caught my eye.

          The power cord for the television was unplugged!  At some point, when a housekeeper or nurse was changing the garbage, the cord must have been bumped and jarred loose from the socket.

          Humbled, and quite embarrassed, I reached down and plugged the set into the outlet.

The patient, who was holding the old original remote on his bed, pushed the button and the TV fired to life!

          We both shared and laugh and he thanked me and apologized for all the time and trouble he had caused.  But as I walked to my car, I couldn’t help but realize the profound lesson I had just been taught.

          In all my efforts, despite trying to be helpful and productive, I had wasted a lot of time and effort because I had failed to do the most obvious thing first – Plug into the source of power.

          How often do we all do this in life?  We go about our daily grind and struggle, thinking, planning, working and trying to accomplish things, but are we taking time to plug ourselves into the real source of power which provides light and insight and pure direction?

          Of course I’m talking NOT about books, or the internet, but instead I’m referring to the Ultimate source of all power, light, knowledge and direction, God.

          I have found that I can plug into that source of power better in my own life, by three prongs on my spiritual power cord:

Prayer -

Study of the Scriptures -

And Temple attendance and worship.

          These three prongs, if we use the force to apply them, truly allow a higher source of energy to flow into our lives.

          That doesn’t mean that we won’t have to do a little footwork (or sometimes a lot) to bring the needed pieces of our lives together, but taking the time to plug into the source of power in the first place, will often save us a lot of wasted time and heartache running down the wrong paths and trying the wrong keys to the doorways of life.


         "Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." - John 8:12

          "Behold, I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I am the same that came unto mine own, and mine own received me not. I am the light which shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not." - D&C 6:21

          So, if you find yourself spinning your wheels and exhausting your efforts to no avail, take a closer look and make sure the trials of your life haven’t knocked the cord out of outlet.  Make sure you are firmly plugged into the Power Source!  Experience has taught me that going back to the basics is generally the best place to start!