God in the Woodshed
There is something that I dreamed about every since I was a little boy....to be a handy man. Laugh if you must, but it is the truth. I would sit for hours and watch "This Old Home", Bob Villa, and many shows like that on PBS. I was fascinated with the math and logic involved in crafting everything from bookshelves to planters to my all-time-favorite clubhouses.
When we moved into the mountain house, I "inherited" a wood shop. It was grandpa's wood shop from when he owned a construction company. It is filled to the brim with scraps of wood, frames that would someday become masterpieces, old doors that would make really awesome coffee tables, and window frames that will be incorporated in craft project some day. Not to mention the tools sprawled about every where. And the sad thing about it is, I don't have a clue how to use any of it (except the hammer and nails; even that's debatable).
You know, the same is true about our gifts from God. We go on watching the gifts and talents of other people, wishing that God would give us the same. Some, in desperation, pray night and day for this gift or that one. More often than not, God never yields to our lofty demands and there is a profound wisdom in that. God knows what we are equipped to handle and if He gave us the gifts we so earnestly seek, they would end up like that wood shed full of tools. I am not questioning whether or not we should pray for things we do not have, for James reminds us that if we lack wisdom, ask and it will be given to us. I am questioning our motives behind the things we don't truly need.
When we moved into the mountain house, I "inherited" a wood shop. It was grandpa's wood shop from when he owned a construction company. It is filled to the brim with scraps of wood, frames that would someday become masterpieces, old doors that would make really awesome coffee tables, and window frames that will be incorporated in craft project some day. Not to mention the tools sprawled about every where. And the sad thing about it is, I don't have a clue how to use any of it (except the hammer and nails; even that's debatable).
You know, the same is true about our gifts from God. We go on watching the gifts and talents of other people, wishing that God would give us the same. Some, in desperation, pray night and day for this gift or that one. More often than not, God never yields to our lofty demands and there is a profound wisdom in that. God knows what we are equipped to handle and if He gave us the gifts we so earnestly seek, they would end up like that wood shed full of tools. I am not questioning whether or not we should pray for things we do not have, for James reminds us that if we lack wisdom, ask and it will be given to us. I am questioning our motives behind the things we don't truly need.
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