On Woodworking

 

I had the privilege of visiting a friend over the weekend

And getting to work with her master-craftsman husband on a bookshelf.

We started from large planks of wood,

Measured and cut boards,

Sanded them,

Trimmed them,

Squared and clamped them,

Glued them,

Screwed them together,

Made and placed little screw-hole covers,

Sanded again,

And finally blew off the sawdust.

I now have a super sturdy small bookshelf that I only need to coat with polyurethane

And then he’ll be ready to go.

I’m calling my bookshelf Ray, Jr.,

In honor of the man who built him.

 

The part that I helped most with was the sanding.

(I’m not yet trustworthy with sharp, cutting power tools).

Ray The Woodworker has an electric sander that

He can hook into his Shop-Vac for zero visible waste!

Ray made sanding look easy.

It was not!

The wood resisted being ground down,

And the sander tried to run away on its own.

I had to stand with both feet firmly planted on the ground

And press down with all my strength to control the sander.

Once under control,

The sander did all the work!

 

What’s really odd is that when I was doing the sanding,

I couldn’t see the difference in the wood being sanded.

But when I watched Ray do the sanding,

I could immediately see where he’d smoothed the wood.  

 

I think this is how it is with life sometimes.

When we’re in a process of transformation,

We can’t always see the change.

Sometimes, we resist the change.

Sometimes, we must keep both feet firmly planted on the ground in order for the change to occur.

But if we keep ourselves open,

If we persevere,

And if we allow ourselves to believe the voices of those encouraging us in the process,

Then we will see our rough edges made smooth

And witness our inner beauty shining through.

 

I would not trade my experience with Ray The Woodworker for anything.

He freely shared his love of his craft with me and

Made for (with) me something I will always cherish.

 

May we each be as kind to one another as Ray was to me,

And may we listen to one another’s voices of encouragement

In times of growth and change.

 

Amen.