Thinking Like Wood Would

Almost all people I know who are proficient in woodworking are that way, at least in part, because they have chosen to become familiar with the material with which they work. In order to get desired results from wood, one must learn to think like a piece of wood. I know, I know. Wood doesn't think at all. What I mean by thinking like a piece of wood is the ability to know what that piece of wood will do if, for example, a chisel is driven into at a particular angle. Knowing how even inanimate objects react when acted upon enables a person to transform a tree into a piece of furniture. Being aware of the nature of the material requires some trial and error and allowing for those exceptions to the rule that are bound to occur if any amount of experience is gained. Some times wood seems to have a mind of its own.

The obvious analogy for this woodworking idea comes to mind when we change the material with which we work from wood to people. If I am to be proficient in working with people then I better learn to think like a people. I know, I know. Grammar-wise it should be, "think like a person." Here the analogy breaks down a bit because people really do think and what they think is extremely important if I wish to be helpful to them. Being helpful is required of anyone who would claim to be Christian. Being helpful is what is required when we are told to love one another. Knowing what someone is thinking before attempting to be helpful to them brings us right back to the woodworking example with one important difference. You may never have tried to make something of wood and therefore would have difficulty in thinking like wood. But thinking like a person is something with which you have plenty of experience. As we attempt to live out that great command to love one another, take time to know what those you encounter are thinking because, right or wrong, what they are thinking determines the material the Greatest Carpenter who ever lived asks us to shape.

Unintentional Nails

It was sawmill time again today and the threesome that has constituted the Friday crew for most Fridays this summer turned a log into boards that will hopefully become a useful item at sometime in the future. One of the great parts about sawing is that the inside of each log is different from any other. Sometimes there are beautiful surprises in store as the internal colors and variation in grain are exposed. Sometimes there are less than desirable surprises such as today when the unmistakable sound change occurred that let us know we just cut through something harder than the Red Oak that was being transformed. Counting in from the outside growth ring we determined that about 30 years ago someone had driven a couple roofing nails into what was then the outside of the tree, no doubt to attach a no trespassing notice. The blade cut poorly after the encounter with the nails and had to be replaced earlier than would have otherwise been the case. The whole episode reminded me once more of how we learn and find parallels between the growth of trees and the growth of people.

The person who attached that sign to the tree is likely no longer living. However the act of doing so affected the tree the rest of its life and affected those of us attempting to do something with it. The tree was wounded, albeit in a minor way. Slowly the tree healed and after some time fully hid the nails that had been driven in all those years ago. People also become wounded and not necessarily in a physical way, usually at the hands of another person. Just like the tree, although we tend to be less patient, we cover the wound and, to those that see only the outside, appear unblemished just as that log did when it was put on the mill. The old timer who put the nails in that tree meant no harm. He no doubt would be sorry to hear it inconvenienced anyone all those years later. I would suggest that we also mean no harm sometimes when we drive nails into someone in the form of hurtful words or actions. But just like in the oak tree, that hurt never goes away and even though time allows the hurt to be overgrown, it is there and affects the person. Take time to get to know the people God puts into your life. We have all been wounded and our wounds affect our actions. Loving others requires that we take time to find out about the nails they have endured and accept them anyway. After all we've been told to love others by One who knows more than most about surviving nail wounds.

In a Nutshell, Not

This past week, my wife Jen and I had the pleasure of taking a shift manning the display of the Pennsylvania Chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation http://www.patacf.org/ that was part of Penn State's Ag Progress Days held annually in central Pennsylvania. The story of the American Chestnut tree is interesting, sad, and yet filled with hope depending on your perspective. At one time American Chestnuts accounted for 1 in 5 of all the trees in Pennsylvania. The legend was that a squirrel could travel from New Jersey to Ohio without ever leaving a Chestnut tree. The American Chestnut was an enormous tree, often exceeding six feet in diameter (the record was a monster fifteen feet across). Affected by a fungal blight causing organism imported with Chinese Chestnut trees in the 1800's, The mighty American Chestnut was gone by the early 1900's. The American Chestnut Tree Foundation is dedicated to breeding a blight resistant tree that can be introduced back into the great forests that it one populated with a range from Maine to Georgia. I am pleased that I am able to support this fine organization and would be delighted to speak more about the program. As you might suspect, there is much more to this story and the American Chestnut will be mentioned again here.

As with the Chestnut tree, there are any number of things in which we can invest time, money and energy. We all believe, at our core, that our lives should make some lasting effect that outlives us. It behooves us therefore to use our allotted time with discernment. The trees growing in our Chestnut orchard will, for the most part, die from the blight. But the few that do not will outlive me and hopefully provide the seed for the next generation of even more blight resistant trees. How we choose to treat the living things around us will have an effect that, properly done, will improve the world we all must leave. We leave this world to the generations that follow and we have the choice to leave it better than we found it. Taking care of the earth honors the One who provided it. His greatest work was people, you and me, we should be humbled by the responsibility with which we've been entrusted.

Just Under the Bark

When the weather cooperates, our Friday session of Out of the Woodwork spends the three hours or so running the sawmill and cutting the material that will eventually become useful projects in the wood shop. This past Friday was exceptional in that the morning was cool and although there were only three of us, four logs were turned into boards. The first cut made in turning a round log into flat boards results in what is called the opening face. I never tire of lifting that first bark covered slab off that face and seeing the treasure that was hiding in the log. It's difficult to know just what that log, which was once part of a living tree, is going to look like inside. Often, what appears to be a really handsome looking log turns out to be not so nice inside and, of course, the opposite is also true. Either way getting inside is necessary to know whether you have high grade lumber or firewood.

I got thinking about how we can't determine what might become of a log without looking below the bark. There is something very similar that happens in our relationships with people. Just like the logs in the log pile, people have an appearance that can be deceiving. Having just heard of the loss of one of my favorite actors, Robin Williams, I was reminded that what we see on the outside is not always a reflection of the inside. We owe it to the people that God allows to cross our paths, to look below the "bark". God already does this. He sees the inside and knows us from the inside out. My work on the sawmill has taught me to look inside in order to know just what

the log is like. I'm trying to do likewise with the people in my life as well. Naturally, this takes a bit more time than the rhetorical, "How ya feeling?" But people are God's greatest work and they are worth it.

Take Time to Sharpen

There are times when it doesn't make sense to keep on working because the tool you're using is just too dull. That's the way it was at Out of the Woodwork shop today. Although I had plans to move forward with a couple projects, the even louder than usual noise coming from the planer indicated that it was time to forego the work I wanted to do and spend the session removing, sharpening and replacing the planer blades. This is the way woodworking works. Sometimes the work stops to enable the work to continue more effectively.

The parallels between woodworking and living in general never fail to amaze me. Just as the woodworker needs to take time to maintain the tools that he or she uses, so do we need to spend time sharpening the tools that allow abundant living to be possible. The primary tools for living are a sense of right and wrong. We sharpen those tools by spending time sharpening that sense. Just as in the example of sharpening the planer, we have to stop doing in order to make doing effective. Living life abundantly is God's promise to us and His Word has all the sharpening equipment we need in order to make that happen.

I encourage all you good folks who may read this to take time to sharpen so that whatever you build is enabled by using sharp tools and righteous living.

If Jesus was a carpenter, that's good enough for me.

Let's Make Some Sawdust or Not

When my father died a few years ago, he left the woodworking shop that he loved to me and I have great memories of time spent with him in that special place. After a year or two of making minimal use of "The wood shop", it occurred  to me that although my son and I enjoyed working there, it was not being utilized as well as it might be.

The thought to open the shop to others who might want to do some woodworking kept weighing on my mind and heart. So "Out of the Woodwork"was born. What began as an offering to give folks some space, tools and instruction (if needed) to do woodworking, has turned into something much more.

While many useful things have been created for individuals as well as for the church I attend, a more important benefit has emerged. Some folks come and do almost no woodworking other than to help others working on various projects. What started out as simply a place to build objects has turned into a place to fulfill the God-given need for community. Some of the biweekly three hour sessions result in very little sawdust being made. But something more important happens in those sessions. Human connections are made. Folks get to know more about each other and caring relationships are the result. 

The purpose of this blog is to share some of the experiences from Out of the Woodwork and hopefully encourage those who might choose to read it to look around at where in their lives they may have the opportunity to provide spaces to allow caring relationships to develop. Hopefully there will be practical information as well as just good news stories of how we can build better objects of wood and better people through love for one another.