By Patsy Bellchambers
15th August 2008
I saw a picture of a wood Craftsman. I watched as He carefully and lovingly chose a solid piece of timber. The timber was simply a solid slab of wood. As the Craftsman placed the timber on the bench it was obvious that his slab of wood had been chosen with a planned purpose in mind, as there were many pieces of timber to choose from but the Craftsman searched through them all, setting all other pieces aside. The discarded pieces were not of any lessor value or quality, they simply were not suitable for the purpose the Craftsman had in mind. The Craftsman prepared the workbench and then chose carefully each tool that would be needed; again this act was very specific. Not just any tools would do, they were chosen with presision - and obvious fore-thought. The craftsmanset to work. Each time the craftsman rested from his work, the wood was covered by a cloth. One to keep it protected and two to mask or hide it from all but the Craftsman Himself.
Over much time; days, weeks and months the Craftsman worked on the wood. Always lovingly and with an air of quiet confidence. After many trips backwards and forwards to the work bench the cloth was lifted to reveal a beautiful violin. It was incredible to see something so small and delicate had been beautifully fashioned from the large slab of wood. I then watched as it received many coats of lacquer. Each step a time consuming effort that could not be hurried. Finally the violin was strung and the tension applied and again, slowly adjusted over time until the Craftsman was satisfied with the sound the violin produced. It was obvious that to play the instrument, it brought the Craftsman much joy.
My thoughts were two fold; 1) This is how God fashions us, we need to submit to the honing and shaping of our soul, character, gifts, talents etc. 2) We must remain submitted to the process of being re-strung and tensioned or we become instruments that are unpleasant to the “ear”. The process is paramount to the end product being able to be used, each person’s beginnings and journeys are unique, but we are all called to a common purpose - to resonate the heart of God and to glorify Him.
