Many times I pray, “Are you sure you know what you are doing, God?” I do not understand the process that He is using as He works in my life. At times it is uncomfortable, difficult, and beyond my ability to understand. Isaiah 55:8-9, “`For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the LORD. `As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’”
The process of making antler pens involves: seeking and selecting antlers, separating the parts of the antler for further processing, shaping the pieces of antler into pen barrels, and assembling them into a pen. The antler is dramatically changed by what is taken away through cutting, drilling, carving, and sanding. The antler is transformed by the pen parts that are pressed into it.
The process is not complete until the pen belongs to someone who will use it to perform the function for which it was designed, writing! A beautiful pen is of no value sitting in a box in the workshop.
In the following meditations I would like to share the thoughts that God impressed upon me regarding the process of spiritual formation. I pray that you will be challenged by the “Lessons from the Lathe.”
Meditation Starters:
What circumstances am I facing that I do not understand?
How could God be working through this situation to equip me for His purpose?
Welcome to my blog!
I have often been amazed at how someone can take something of no value to anyone else and transform it into some beautiful piece of art or something that is useful and valuable. What had been discarded, lost, or forgotten takes on a new life in the hands of the craftsman that sees, not the trash that it is, but the value and potential of what it can become. My uncle has always been good at seeing the value where others cannot. He looks at a deer antlers and sees pens, stands, and jewlery. He has been crafting exquisite writing instruments, which are more a work of art than a pen, for the past five years. His pens have sold at the Thomas Kincaid & Terry Redlin Galliers, fine jewlery stores, and boutiques throughout the United States.
I have been fortunate enough that my uncle has taught me his trade. Working at the lathe I have many quite moments to reflect. It is here that God impresses upon me His procee of shaping and molding a man. God sees in me the value that He created me to have, when all I see is failure and worthlessness. He loving works in my life to take away everything that hinders me from being all that He desires. He skillfully sands and polishes until I shine with His glory. And ultimately, when He is done, I find new meaning and purpose that I have not know before.
Each time I look at one of my pens I can't help but thank God for shaping me into something beautiful! I hope you enjoy reading "Lessons from the Lathe".
I have been fortunate enough that my uncle has taught me his trade. Working at the lathe I have many quite moments to reflect. It is here that God impresses upon me His procee of shaping and molding a man. God sees in me the value that He created me to have, when all I see is failure and worthlessness. He loving works in my life to take away everything that hinders me from being all that He desires. He skillfully sands and polishes until I shine with His glory. And ultimately, when He is done, I find new meaning and purpose that I have not know before.
Each time I look at one of my pens I can't help but thank God for shaping me into something beautiful! I hope you enjoy reading "Lessons from the Lathe".
Saturday, March 29, 2008
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