C is for CALCULATOR

I used to count on my fingers. But when I learned multiplying and dividing, that was a bit more difficult and decimal sums were just impossible. What I really needed was a calculator but they didn't exist while I was at primary school, so we just had to learn tables, long division and multiplication and put up with the decimal point. I used to envy dad for he could do any sum in his head in a fraction of a second. In the farmyard at home, he had a houses in which he kept pigs. The ceiling was low and covered in grey plasterboard and to this day, if you go in through the door and look up, you'll find it covered with all sorts of sums that he had written in pencil, while calculating weights and prices of animals and working out his profit margins. It's a testimony to his mathematical brain especially for one whose official schooling ended by the age of sixteen.

Anyway, the closest we had to a calculator in primary school was a fairly large abacus, but it was seen by most pupils as more of a helper for the less able at Maths rather than an aid to calculating difficult sums, so it often sat alone in the corner. By the time we moved to secondary school, the word calculator and portable could still not be used in the same sentence with any conviction so we were all sentenced to using the slide rule for any difficult calculations involving square roots, logarithms or trigonometry. We persevered for what seemed like ages but gradually the calculator was getting more compact and cheaper and then one almost suddenly, if you can understand that, it just seemed that everyone owned one and the slide rule slid under the desk and out of the classroom.

My first calculator was about the size of a small novel, with a bright green display and able to do the basics plus the odd percentage and square root. It coped well with all I threw at it and lasted for most of my school career, often doubling as a night light because of its extremely luminous digits so I suppose you could say I slept by numbers.

Sometime in my late teens I discovered a calculator that was exactly the size of a modern credit card and about twice as thick, but not as thick as its owner, for it could do every calculation under the sun, from simple adding to the most complex trigonometry problem and also had a memory to die for. Unfortunately it was a bit flimsy and delicate and sometimes the slightest bend of its thin frame was enough to clear the screen. Eventually the tiny batteries stopped working and like many another gullible punter, I discovered that it was cheaper to buy a new calculator than replace the power sources. Since that time I've had a succession of calculators, one or two on my digital watches and now of course, like most of the world, carry one every day on my mobile phone. Ah the joys of being able to instantly convert Euros to Sterling, Litres to Gallons, Pounds to Kilos and Miles to Kilometres, to work out the cost of eight tins of cat food or calculate how much cheaper The Simpsons movie is in Sainsburys than in HMV and all without having to use the brain for anything more than remembering to punch the figures in the right order on the keyboard. But I'm not so sure that the calculator has generally been that beneficial. Oh yes I can understand how it speeds up the time we need to calculate but nowadays, for too many, it has actually replaced our learning of how to calculate in the first place. Heaven help some of us when the batteries run out!

I guess there's a tendency in many who are believers to feed their faith only using the short words of advice and comfort given in some of the daily notes that they use. Don't misunderstand me for I have a great respect for the authors of such notes who base their daily writings on their own faith and what they have learned from God's Word. But many who read them never delve beyond the short Bible passage and provided commentary for that day and others simply make do with the words on their booklet alone. More and more, I have found these commentaries to be most helpful but only in addition to what God reveals when I dig deep into His Word in the first place. Isn't it just the calculator syndrome all over again, the lazy man's religion, expecting someone else to come up with the answer without doing the learning yourself. Paul tells us that 'faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.' Jesus says 'Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.'

I still use a calculator when I have to and I still use daily notes in my quiet time. But sometimes it's better to leave them in a corner and learn for myself. After all, only one person can count the hairs on my head!