My Craft

Some people work with tools. They know how to handle a wrench, screwdriver, or a socket in working on machinery to make necessary repairs. Others use hammers, drills, saws, levels, and measuring tapes in construction work. I have never been good with any of these tools. I once tried to rotate the tires on bicycle as a child by just rotating the entire rim from front to back and back to front. It was not until the end of the project I realized I had no sprocket for the chain on the front tire I mounted on the back. In Junior High I nearly failed woodshop. I just could not grasp the concepts and get my project to turn out right. I have never been known as a handyman.

There are people who work with test tubes, microscopes, running tests, doing research, and making new discoveries. I did not excel in this area either. Others master their craft with computers and technology. They are on the cutting edge of new techniques and designs. I went to college and never sat down at a computer. In this highly advanced age of computers I am still a dinosaur. Though I type blogs and books, I still hand write my sermons. Though surrounded by computer junkies I drag my heels and follow reluctantly. I still do not have texting on my cell phone; I rarely activate my I-Chat on the computer and prefer my paper calendar to my computer calendar. I can’t believe I even have a cell phone but is also a dinosaur with no bells and whistles.

My craft is totally different. I am clumsy with these other crafts and tools I seldom feel more at home and alive than when I am working in the area of my passion. My craft is working with words. I love words. More specifically I love the definition of words. I would not say I have a large vocabulary, but I love a good dictionary (the one I currently use is about to fall part from use). I enjoy reading a thesaurus when looking for that right word to complete a thought. My craft is words, sentences, and paragraphs. I round up these to form thoughts, to explain new concepts, and to express new ideas. My heart is rarely more contented than when in a bookstore, library, or sitting at my desk with books piled all around me lost in my thoughts typing furiously on this computer. My craft might seem foreign to many people.

I have to be honest. I am pretty uncomfortable in the hardware store but totally at home in the bookstore. I walk awkwardly down the aisle in the hardware store trying not to stand out or to draw attention to myself. I want to belong there but I do not. On the other hand, I know how to navigate the bookstore. I usually head for the biography section, meander to the classics section, and then browse the shelves of theology and prayer. I can grab a good book and sit down in a chair right there and get engrossed in another author’s craft with words. It is hard for me to choose which I love more; reading or writing. I guess in someway this makes me kind of nerdy. I almost took a book to my son’s track meet this past Tuesday. I am supposed to go to another track meet tonight and have actually contemplated taking my computer with me to write while I sit in the stands.

A carpenter has to build. A mechanic has to repair things. An artist has to paint. In a similar vein I have to write. I have to study words and find creative ways to express them. For me I do not so much write for the reader as much as I write because I have to. My mind is constantly churning with new ideas to write about and I am continually listening to or noticing new words when people talk or when I read. There are some words I simply love the sound of. ASSIDUOUS. I love that word. I love to say it, write it, and read it. I love other words like, meditation, toil, affection, devotion, reflection, exuberance, enthralled, and thousands of others. I love to take a single word and let my mind drift away into the ocean of ideas, thoughts, feelings, and then lasso those thoughts and corral them onto the printed page. There is no book that sparks my imagination like the Bible. A person could spend a whole lifetime and not exhaust the truth of its contents. Words in the Bible are pregnant with meaning. Words like redemption, justification, resurrection, grace, mercy, compassion, faith, believe, salvation, and I go on and on. Instead of writing more about my craft I need to get busy engaging in my craft. My dictionary sits ready at my right hand. My Bible is cracked open on my left. My computer sits directly in front of me. Who knows what the Master Craftsman, Jesus Himself, will inspire me to craft next. I urge you find your craft and devote yourself to it assiduously. I love that word! [Eph 2:10]