My wife recently wanted me to make something to hold a plant that grows on trees sideways that she could hang a wall. Then some more requests and before I knew it, she had a new hobby picked out for me. We move a lot for work, so I didn’t have all the fancy tools I thought I’d need to get the job done. That’s the materialistic teaching of the world – my first object lesson. So began the understanding of some powerful lessons. I’ve known all my life like everyone else that Jesus was a carpenter, but I never realized what that meant until I started studying woodworking.
Woodworking brings:
- Patience – you have to learn before you can do
- Constant learning – you will always find a new way to do something, rich and clever
- Education which brings savings – you don’t need all the fancy tools in the world; a lot can be done with just a couple pieces of tools
- Understanding that taking the shortcut will lead to ignorance and danger; if you do not respect the process, you will suffer the consequences; the fear in the Lord is the beginning of wisdom
- Choosing the right action leads to safety in the Lord; selecting the right wood will ensure safety – softwood for a table leg will eventually collapse, and you’ll have to start over if you come out unscathed
- Durable wood takes time to grow so does building our fortitude in life
- Understanding the minutia of woodworking produces a better product – in life, we need to understand the complexities of the physical and spiritual realms to get the most out of them
- The promise of creating something beautiful inspires us to push through ignorance and setbacks; this is how we obtain all the promises of God, which are Yes and Amen in Christ
- Beauty comes from ugly; a knotted piece of wood can be cut, shaped, glued, and sanded to make a beautiful piece of art – like coal put under tremendous pressure produces a diamond, so the experiences of life create a diamond of a person
- Generates Inspiration – ideas spring out for what to make and open a whole new area to grow in; the word of God gives us ideas to correct a fault or overcome any situation; a worn-out Bible is owned by someone who is not
- Produces a creation – creating something from the inspiration brings about a sense of euphoria that I never realized when making webpages or studies; like the old saying, those that can, do
- Attention to detail and taking your time reduces mistakes; reading the word of God and praying habitually reduces mistakes in our lives
- Quality in workmanship creates a work of art; believing all the promises from the word of God creates a quality of life in us and those around us unobtainable by other means
While I’m just starting, I appreciate what it meant for Jesus to be a carpenter. In life, not His ministry, He already brought service to His community whereby they could have a better life. However, to do that, Jesus, as a man, had to learn how to make a table joint, or the type of wood needed a support leg. While we can dismiss the idea that they were just backward and rustic, I am confident that they created works that people today would pay thousands of dollars to obtain for themselves. Just look at some of the Japanese woodworking videos today that will put you in awe and realize that like God is our potter and we are the clay, by doing woodworking, we can better ourselves and those around us.