A large percentage of my work day is spent drafting, sending, deleting and filing e-mails. Microsoft Outlook (or MO as I fondly refer to it) and I are like two peas in a pod, its my cheese to my macaroni, the spaghetti to my meatball, (tangent - who implemented the use of food analogies to describe a perfect match??? Nevertheless, they work....the ipod to my head phones, the tissue to my nose & the wheel to my bicycle don't really have the same ring to them).
Call me ignorant, call me blind, call me what you will, but I love MO. It wasn't a love at first type scenario, I admit. I've always been a hotmail girl through and through (the embarrassing email addresses still haunt me.....eg zany_zarzy) & despite the fact that I primarily use my gmail account for personal emails, its diverted to my hotmail inbox.
But when I'm at work, I don't have hotmail on my mind...its MO which is on my mind. The ability to categorise emails in pretty colours, the meeting request options, sorting filters and alternate reading pane views leave me in a state of bliss every time I receive mail.
Yes, MO has its problems, its glitches - as does every e-mailing program, but I love MO despite its failings. Yet, there is still one button, one icon which perplexes me....the 'high importance' option. I have one colleague who adds that pesky red exclamation mark to every second email, thus making its importance redundant. Perhaps when the icon is clicked, a pop up box should appear...stating 'High Importance function only to be utilised in the following scenarios:
- In the event of a threat of nuclear war
- The cafe down the roads delivered a bomb instead of my usual wholegrain ham, salad and cheese sandwich & I need to know how to detonate it or you'll be cleaning my intestines off the wall or
- There's no milk in the staff room fridge & if I don't have my 15th coffee for the day I might go all Brittany Spears on you and shave my head'
So I've decided that the high importance button is relative. What is of high importance to me, is probably not going to be of high importance to others. I've been going through a season of learning about what I value....I've learnt that above all I value relationships. I value my relationship with God, my family and my friends. People are the highest priority and I'm learning more and more how precious and valuable people are. I believe all people are worthy of love and grace, God is showing me this and while I don't always act in a way which testifies to that, I'm learning.
