Not the Sharpest Tool

If you’re not the sharpest tool, the next best thing is to have the sharpest tool. For several years we burned a lot of wood. Cut down a lot of dead trees and burned 8-9 cords of wood every winter. Beautiful red oak I might add, much to my woodworking father’s dismay! Sorry dad.

Dullness comes over time(immediately if you are mindless in your chainsaw use). Before you know it, the large chunks of wood become more like sawdust, sometimes fine sawdust. At that point the work is increased. The saw works needlessly, my back works needlessly, everything becomes more work. It reminds me of Ecclesiastes 10:10

“If the axe is dull and he does not sharpen its edge, then he must exert more strength. Wisdom has the advantage of bringing success.” Ecclesiastes 10:10

Time has a way of teaching us a few things. The illusion of my youth was that I indeed used more strength to accomplish some tasks. Back, shoulders and knees no longer allow for such thinking. At this point in life I am looking for any mechanical advantage I can find. At the heart of that is a sharpened tool and the recognition of dullness for what it is.

But I also witness a dullness of heart in myself and others and the useless ways we try to power through that. God has this gift for us in exchanging the dullness for sharpness, not only for our tools sake but for our heart, mind, and soul as well.

I find that one of my main sharpening stones in life (on top of the Bible, Godly people) is music. Maybe music is in the category of people. I appreciate the heart of an artist that writes a song born in their experience of life, how often it resonates will me, how it can sharpen, refine remove the burrs on the edge of my life that only serve to dull anything I touch. Here’s the sharpening stone in my life this morning…

I am convinced… well sometimes my blade hits a stone and the conviction gets a big dent in the prime cutting area. More than anything I need a stone of truth to run over the edge, get things snapped back into order.

As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” Proverbs 27:17 May we recognize the need and offer the service to one another!! Sometimes we offer the service to those uninterested. Jesus called that “casting your pearls before the swine.” There is no appreciation for the gift. The modern day version is “no good deed, goes unpunished.” O I pray you recognize the need and usefulness of The Sharpening Stone and embrace it for all it can do…

To sharp axes, for physical and spiritual labor!!