Obsolescence

The other week I had to bring my laptop to the shop because it wasn’t working. I was told I needed to buy a new battery so I asked if I could get it there at the shop. I was told that since my unit was built in 2011, they could no longer order vintage parts. Vintage! Since when was 2011 considered vintage? It reminded me of what a speaker once said about how these new manufacturers had built in obsolescence into their products so that consumers would be forced to buy new items after a while.

As I grow another year older this week, I ask myself if one day I’ll become obsolete. I suppose there will be a time when the experience and skills I’ve gained along the way will be considered precious wisdom (at least that’s the goal!). But beyond that, it’s a certainty that my knowledge and skills will become obsolete too. I’ll have to retire then, for sure. I’ll have to make way (gracefully, I hope) for younger, newer, more talented people. 

If my skills and talents and knowledge will become obsolete someday, does it still make sense to put so much effort into them now? Sometimes, I forget (because the world tells me otherwise) that the acquisition and improvement of knowledge and talent are not the be-all-and-end-all of life. Their purpose is to help me build relationships, to deepen the manner in which I experience life and to make manifest God’s glory to others. In themselves, they will become obsolete but if I use them wisely, I will hopefully be led to things that are of far more importance in eternity.

There are things in life that will survive obsolescence – will in fact be purified by obsolescence. When things don’t go right, when we have seemingly reached the threshold of our ability to solve our problems through our own merits, it is then when our faith in a Higher Being is put to the test. It is often when we feel the most useless and most powerless that we truly take the risk of relying on God. Our faith carries us through when our human weakness has seemingly reached its limit.

It is also when we encounter our own complete vulnerability that we are able to accept the love of others. It is only when we confront our weakness and unworthiness that we realize how God and those close to us can be so unconditional in their loving. And it is only when we see past the usefulness of others and love them for who they are that we become most loving.

Obsolescence then is not something to rush towards but neither is it something to avoid. For in our lives, it too will have its place. And while many things will eventually outlive their usefulness, they can still be valuable to those who love them.