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| The Stair case finally goes in |
I observed
his work throughout the day and couldn’t believe how much time he was spending
on ONE pole! It took him all day to
complete, what to my untrained eye was just a pole that will hold the railing
up for the stairs. After all the progress we were beginning to
make, ONE pole is all he had to show for a day’s work. He would position it, step back and look at
it, take it out again and work on it some more, and then bring it back again
and replace it. He repeated this process
all day. Finally at the end of the day he went to put it into place for the
final time but paused and muttered under his breath, “Wait, I will just take a
picture of this before I do”. He looked
at me and smiled and said; “This is my Tetris block.”
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| This is the pole he spent all day on. |
I smiled graciously
but inside I was thinking, “Well I am happy for you playing games at my expense! Every day this renovation costs us more and
more!” Watching his pride as he took
the picture I just had to ask, “Why are you taking a picture of a piece of
wood?” He replied, “Well, I am just so
proud of it. When it goes into place you don’t see the handiwork that has gone
in to making it fit perfectly. It just
looks like a pole but only I know the time and effort that goes into something
like this.” (paraphrased, he was not so
eloquent).
So here we have a brawny,
tough, classic Australian tradesman talking like a gooey proud dad would about
his newborn baby. It was sweet and I asked
if he wouldn’t mind sending me the photo.
He placed his one
piece of wood perfectly into position and left a satisfied man having completed
a good day’s work. Anyone else would
look at his accomplishment and not even noticed the one pole in relation to the
stairs, let alone the whole renovation project.
I certainly would not have had I NOT witnessed this process first hand.
It made me think about
parenting. We look at our children that
we spend day in and day out with, at all the little unseen things that we do
for them each and every day for the rest of our lives. The tasks that take so much
of our time as a parent and yet no one else sees them let alone appreciates
them. Others look at the sum of our
parenting from the outside and we HOPE what they see looks good. But they don’t
see all the hard work, the tears, the sleepless nights, the loads of washing,
the taxi driving, the continual open purse, the cleaning up after them, the
worrying when they are not talking to you and you don’t know where they
are. If you are anything like me there
are days when you ask, “What did I do all day?”
You know you were busy, and didn’t get a second to sit and stop but you
can’t think what took all day to do.
The strategic juggle
to make sure all the bits slotted into place in perfect timing and everything got
completed just like the game of TETRIS.
Like the builder making sure his one piece of wood fitted perfectly with
all the others. The time it took for him to carve each section out perfectly
even though no one will see it. Only He
will know how well it was done. Only a SKILLED tradesman will look and know the
work that has been done so expertly.
I am thankful my
Heavenly Father sees everything and
smiles upon us and reminds us that “we are His workmanship, created in Christ
for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them”
(Ephesians 2:10). We are His
created handiwork, each part carved out for a purpose and with a place to
belong in this world. As parents He
entrusts us with the job of moulding our children to be all they were created
for, helping them fit perfectly into the right spaces. Thank God He sees it all, even the hidden
parts. They are HIS children and he values all the
time, care and love we give to them. Others
may criticize or judge us, like I did with the builder but God sees all the effort
and love and uses it for “the good work that He has prepared beforehand”.
Thank you God that
today a wonderful Australian carpenter reminded me of the intricate work it
takes to shape a human being and that while it is a long slow process,
parenting is a privilege. Help me to
remember that when it feels like nothing is changing or progressing as fast as
I would like it to, that nothing is ever wasted no matter whether it is seen or
unseen. Where others see it as wasted
time YOU never do. Like the pole fitted
perfectly in its place to fulfil its intended role in the renovation, I pray
that my children will walk in the ways they were created for. With your hands guiding me help me to chisel
and shape these precious children into your MASTERPIECES. (Ephesians 2:10 NLT)
You want to see this
pole, don’t you?! ……… Here it is.
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| This is the inside of the pole that no one will see, the bits all chiselled out so it fits it into all the other things around it, on the outside it looks like one simple piece of wood. |
