Bureaucracy

 In a crowded week, a task which has caused frustration;- helping a friend recently arrived here to get a covid booster. He has a certificate showing two vaccinations back home, abroad. Should be a simple task then to find a vaccination centre for the booster, which will set his mind at rest. Let's look at the info on the laptop..... and enter some info. Name? Date of birth? Name of doctor? Oh, it says you're not registered there. Let's try another way...ring the medical centre where you know you've registered, and speak to a receptionist to find the exact name you registered, 'I'm sorry sir, under data protection I can't tell you that information. Best ring 119 and speak to the national centre..' 119 duly rung; press a thousand keys before speaking to someone in the flesh, who says you need to google 'Tell the NHS about your vaccination', and enter the information there. This will register your foreign covid jabs, if the vaccine complied with UK standards, and then we can move forward......;

A jibbering wreck emerges from this mountain of bureaucracy. Yes, I understand the need of it, but negotiating it is another matter. Before you can do this, you need to do that, And before you do that you need to do the other. Ad infinitum. 

In the kingdom of grace and wisdom, I know of no forms to fill in. Need, expressed to the king, brings forth the grace and wisdom for the tasks of faith, however tangled or simple they present.