Humbled by a Shredder

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“Do not judge, or you too will be judged” (Matthew 7:1).

I’ve been humbled by an office shredder. With a stack of papers to shred, I went to the copy room at my office. I put a few pages through the feeder. It jammed and came to a halt. Could the container be full? Nope. I fiddled with the plug. No. Then I saw the problem. Inside the teeth of the machinery, a wad of paper stuck. It looked like a bird’s nest. I turned it off and unplugged it.

Opening up the office tool box, I grabbed a pair of needle nose pliers and pulled the wad hoping for a quick solution. No luck. I reached for a letter opener, sliced at the wad and hoped it would release. Great, I don’t have time for this.

During the next hour, I poked at the paper with my letter opener. With the pliers, I pulled out bits of stuck paper. While poking between the teeth, I found something black and stiff. Someone tried to run some type of plastic through the equipment. Figures. It’s probably the same person who left the copier jammed earlier this week.

I flipped the machine upside down on my lap hoping gravity would ease the chore. With a closer look, I found more globs of paper and black stuff. I tugged and dug for more than hour.

Who did this? Who thought this hard plastic thing would run through this shredder? No wonder this shredder has been so finicky lately. It’s an industrial model but the more I messed with it, the more obvious it became that the plastic shouldn’t have been put in. Someone’s going to get a piece of my mind if I ever get it unstuck.

My grumbling increased throughout the morning.  After more than two hours of messing with the machine, it ran for longer periods before it jammed again. I pulled out one long piece of large film, Ah-hah; I’ll read what’s on this and determine who created this mess. I could apprehend the culprit.

Instead, I was humbled. The evidence I held in my hand proved it was my hard plastic stuff, my work. More than a year previous, I’d put an x-ray film through the equipment. I was the culprit.

God spoke loud and clear to me that day. First, don’t put x-rays films through the shredder. Second, don’t cast stones assuming it’s the fault of someone else. Most important, don’t plan what you’ll say to the culprit unless you’re willing to hear the words yourself. I won’t soon forget the day God used a shredder to humble me. I pray the next time I start to blame someone, I won’t be so hasty to point fingers.

Questions: What has God used to humble you? When have you wrongly placed blame when inconvenienced?

TAKE THE NEXT STEP: Are you Humble?

About the Author Gail I.Morris

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