As a young girl, I followed my older brothers around,
wanting to be involved in all that they did.
Being mechanical, yet having very little resources to work with, they
were always trying to make something out of nothing. It wasn’t uncommon to find them under the
hood of a car or building something from scrap, etc. I was often right next to them wanting to
help even if it meant being their “gopher”.
I was more than willing to “go fer this...” and “go fer that...” in
order to be included in their activity.
Consequently, I developed an interest in power tools,
mechanics and building. However, I was
pretty young at the time, so I wasn’t really ready for much “hands-on”
opportunities. As I grew older, my
interests in these skills never changed.
In high-school, I informed the school counselor that I intended to
register for “Industrial Arts” classes.
However, in those days girls
weren’t allowed in such male oriented programs, so… the counselor kindly re-directed
me toward “Home Economics” along with the other girls.
It wasn’t that I minded home-making activities. Momma did a great job of teaching me about cooking,
sewing, etc. and I enjoyed it, but I also wanted to learn how to fix my car, do
home repairs and use POWER tools!
Although I often requested electric tools for gifts through
the years, somehow my “tool shop” was relegated to a drawer in the kitchen
designated as “Mom’s tool drawer”. While
I always treasured and protected my little hand tools from sticky fingers in
the household, my “need” for POWER tools never really got fulfilled! Recently, I’ve been reminded to never give-up
hope!
My nephew lives next door and has a huge, heated shop with
all the POWER tools a girl could ever
dream of! What he doesn’t have, my
brother, Art does! Not only that, Art is
an excellent and patient
teacher! I’m learning to use drills,
saws, torches, grinders and all sorts of other fun tools!
Currently we are re-building a horse drawn disc. We’ve disassembled two well used discs,
rescued the best parts from each one and are making a “new” one. In this throw-away world, there are few
things more rewarding than taking “a piece of junk” that someone else tossed
aside and turning it into something useable and valuable!
When we disassembled the discs’ bearing hubs, we discovered oak bushings. What an invention! However, over time they had become worn and
needed to be replaced. Obviously, we can’t
just run to the local farm implement store and purchase such things. So… we got the saw out, cut some blocks,
drilled through the center, chiseled-out the core and carved new bushings. What fun!
Why do these projects bring so much enjoyment? It seems that we were created for such
things. It’s difficult for me to imagine
that the Creator of this universe intended for us to mass-produce stuff.
Personally, I know of no one who’s ever given any indication that they enjoyed their assembly line job. Additionally, it seems that those who make
things find far greater joy in possessing and giving than those who have the
resources to purchase whatever they want.
The joy seems to be in the creating and seeing the fruits of our labors.
Scripture tells us that Father fashioned “the heavens and
the earth in all their vast array”.
Obviously, even our Creator likes POWER “tools”!
Consider this; the sun is so powerful that
“it would take the gross national
product of the United States
for your local power company to
run the sun for a mere second.”
– James B. Kalen, Astronomy,
(New York: HarperCollins, 1994), 312.
Nothing can escape the power of God’s sun!
I can just imagine Father busy about creating… “I think I’ll
breathe a little sun into existence over here and –umm- add a sparkle of light over
there. Oh, wow! How about a touch of water in this spot and a
bit of land in that? Perfect! Hey; I have an idea! Now that I have some dirt, I think I’ll use it to make a creature in My image.”
Scripture says that after He completed the sixth day of
creation, Father stood back and said something like, “Look at that! I made that!
That is cool” (Genesis 1:31 )! There
isn’t any wonder why we find such joy in what we create. After all, we were made in our Creator’s
image. Hey… no wonder I like POWER
tools!
Whole-Heartedly,
Bonnie
P.S. Please
feel free to contact me with questions, thoughts, topics you’d like to ponder
or to read past articles at: http://whole-heartedlife.blogspot.com/. You may also contact me at:
Bonnie
Jaeckle
In Search
of the Whole-Hearted Life
Diagonal
Progress
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment