Photo and Commentary (c)2025 by Maylan Schurch
Friday, December 26, 2025
If you’re a regular student of these Daily Photo Parables, you might remember that a few weeks ago I posted a photo I’d snapped in a thrift store, which featured an ancient adding machine and a couple of typewriters.
A little over a week ago I visited that same thrift store, and the above typewriter was the only machine of the three left. But as you see, this one’s in trouble. Someone was typing on the keys, and a couple of the type bars stuck together, and the person just kept on typing, and more bars became became tangled.
At this point I’m not sure what happened. Maybe the typist blinked in horror, said “Whoops! I broke it!” and vanished. Or maybe he or she did something equally ineffective — grabbed hold of the plastic lettered keys and tried to pull them back to home base that way. That won’t work, and might even cause the plastic keys to come off.
But one of the first things I learned in typing class as a high school freshman was the correct way to solve the jammed-bars problem. From above, use the fingers of one hand to brush the jammed typebars back one by one. And in just two or three seconds, you’ll be ready to start typing again.
Now you’ve seen the photo. Here comes the parable.
Sometimes life becomes like those jammed typewriter keys. Problem piles upon problem, until it seems as though you can’t go any further. That’s when you need to turn your life over to the One whose mighty hand can descend and start untangling things.
Remember, you’re not alone. Even if you’ve really damaged yourself and your usefulness by repeated bad choices, God cares, and promises to help if you ask.
For some amazing and refreshing Bible texts about this, click the link just below: