Last week while going over my book talk for an upcoming book event, I decided to print out a new first page since some of the changes I’d made had caused the last sentence to be omitted from page one. So much easier than changing the margins on that page and retyping it.

Except that my printer refused to print the first page…or any page! After rebooting the computer to no avail, I picked up the phone and pressed Intercom—my first go-to for help when Donn is downstairs! In a few minutes, he joined me and together we began to troubleshoot.

One message we were getting from the computer said, “Windows active directory Domain is not available.” So we began to ask Google, How do we fix the Windows Active Directory Domain is not available error? We found a list of instructions which we began to follow.

We had already done Rule #1 Restart the computer. As we worked our way through the list, sometimes we were able to figure out the instructions and sometimes we weren’t. Donn went downstairs to his computer to look for more information while I followed some of the instructions.

Finally, we basically gave up and Donn went back downstairs, but I still kept thinking of more things to try. I called Donn again, and he came up to see if what I tried had worked. NO.

More than an hour, maybe two hours, had gone by. I could have typed the page many times over in the amount of time I invested in solving this problem, but now I was working on a much bigger problem—a printer that wouldn’t print from my computer at all!

I read aloud to Donn the remaining three steps of the current “How to Fix the Windows Active Directory Domain Error” I was working through.

4) Enable file and printer sharing (To do this, I needed to know which computer listed was mine—Donn didn’t know either.)

5) Restart the print spooler. (What does that mean? Donn didn’t know either!)

6) Add the printer to the computer manually.

I stopped. “The printer is already attached to the computer… Well, I think the printer is…”

I had already made sure the A end of the USB cable was attached to the laptop keyboard, but… I stood up and followed the cable to where it attached to the printer. I felt both the printer and the B end of the cable and started to say it was connected when I heard a distinctive click!

“The computer wasn’t connected to the printer!” I exclaimed as the magical sound of printing met my ears.

I couldn’t believe Donn and I had wasted most of the afternoon “fixing” this labor-saving device because the printer and the computer weren’t connected! I also wondered why Step One on the lists of instructions wasn’t 1) Make sure the computer and printer are connected, until I realized the instructions I’d been using were probably for a wireless printer which doesn’t need to be connected externally to the computer.

Shaking my head, I looked at Donn and said, “This is a prime example of how we can spend an entire afternoon trying to fix one of our labor-saving devices!

But then I’m reminded that our labor-saving devises cannot rule out human error. I have a pile of notebooks stacked on the printer which I might have bumped, thereby jarring the printer, dislodging the USB cable.

I was so busy trying to figure out how to correct the Windows Active Directory Domain Error—something I knew nothing about–that it never occurred to me to check the external connection between the printer and the computer.

This makes me wonder how often we miss the obvious in our desperate search to find solutions to the problems in our lives. Could it be that the solution to the problems in our marriage might be as simple as spending more time together or reading God’s Word and praying together?

Could our financial problems be solved by beginning to give God His share of our income first instead of what’s left over? Could our health be improved by simply doing the things we already know we should do… stop eating junk food and drinking pop and start eating more fruits and vegetables?

Heavenly Father, help us not to miss the obvious in our desperate search to find solutions to our problems. Give us ears to hear the voice of your Spirit and open the eyes of our understanding to find the answers that are already in plain sight. Amen.