Previous Challenge Entry (EDITOR'S CHOICE)
Topic: AUTHORITY( 04/14/22)
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TITLE:
Because He Said So | Writing Challenge By Jennifer Percell 04/21/22 |
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3rd Place
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Cypress. Common uses: small furniture, boat building. Grain and color: light with darker streaks.
A rich grain pattern was emerging as I sanded the slab on my workbench. This piece was my first attempt to work with cypress, a light wood that featured unique patterns of dark streaks and yellow highlights. The generous curve of the live edge clearly suggested a large, stately tree.
Starting with 60 grit sandpaper I had cleaned the remnants of bark and knotholes, continuing with 80, 120, and 180 grit had drawn out the personality of this unique specimen. My plan to sand through to 400 grit sandpaper would create a finish that invited customers to unconsciously stroke the finished piece with a sense of wonder. The weather-beaten tree would soon be a dining table, the centerpiece of family life supporting as yet unknown joys, sorrows and togetherness.
The hum of the rotary sander, muffled by my protective earbuds, lulled me into further bouts of imagination. I see other slabs of this glorious tree becoming a door to a church, a bench where dog walkers gather to chat, a sleek rowboat, or a newborn babies cradle. Finally, when completely worn out, giving a last gift of warmth to a family enjoying a scrap wood bonfire.
Such is the joy of an afternoon in my wood shop. This time and energy given over to the ageless art of creating brings me quietly into the Presence of the Master Creator. My thoughts turn to another wood crafter, and another slab of cypress wood. Many linguists argue the possibility that Noah prepared slabs of cypress wood very much like the piece I use today.
I imagine all the slabs involved in a project as large as Noah's historic ship. My passion for the craft is recreational. Noah's was heroic. Mine fed by my mood, inconsistent and self-serving, Noah's a direct act of faith, obedient to the authority of His God.
I turn off my sander and pull up my shop stool. Do I have that kind of faith? Woodworking is great fun to me, but I am my own boss. I work when I feel like it and often do nothing in the shop for weeks. I pull over a sketch pad and pencil, doodling memories of cubits, window specs and decks, coating of pitch and layout of rooms. What a colossal undertaking! The sketches of small furniture that litter my workbench provide a shocking contrast.
I picture four men cutting acres of trees, somehow hewing them down to usable lumber and probably making nails or pegs and tools all by hand. My back aches at the thought of dragging those trees to the construction site and I marvel at how Noah must have built some sort of scaffolding and framework to hold the form in place during the process of adding pitch.
My eyes survey my workbench, seven types of saws, clamps, sanders and drills, did Noah have a workshop? Did he notice the grain of the cypress, stroke the wood and praise the beauty of God's handiwork as he prepared the logs just as I have today?
All these centuries later I feel a kinship to this famous craftsman. Linked by the simple, age-old act of building, my thoughts on five chapters of Old Testament history come to life as never before.
Noah dealt with cracks and knotholes, Noah's shoulders ached from pounding nails, Noah miscalculated measurements and had to re-cut poorly fitting planks. Noah got splinters.
I had never seen him so clearly. He was not a flannel graph figure with impossibly snowy white hair and a waist long beard, he was a builder just like me.
In a moment of spiritual clarity my thoughts become prayer and the nearness of God is breathtaking. Noah with his incredible, obedient faith stands in my shop, human and completely relatable. What was it like, man of God? Did you stroke the grain of the cypress and craft each log in confidence every day? Or did doubts, fear and confusion leave you paralyzed and overwhelmed as you stumbled through each step of the building trying to comprehend what was coming? Did you see your ark as your masterpiece of obedience or sometimes feel embarrassed by what others surely called Noah's folly?
I'll never build an epic vessel Lord, but let me build this kind of faith, ready like Noah, to do whatever You say, just because You are the One asking.
Accept Jesus as Your Savior Right Now and be Certain of Eternal Life.
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