A Carpenter's Hands

I had my first successful experience with carpentry today. With an astronomical amount of help from my Grandpa, I built an entertainment center for my cousin Tom and his wife Stacy. It's to be a belated wedding gift and hopefully will last them a good, long while. Along with enjoying the day with Grandpa, I found the age-old trade of woodworking intriguing and fulfilling.

I'm not necessarily the best at that kind of thing, and I likely never will be. However, cutting, shaping, gluing, screwing, and nailing pieces of lumber until they come together as something useful is a hobby that I would like to continue. First, it's a practical skill that could prove invaluable one day. To guide and watch the transformation from wood to object, though, is satisfying in and of itself. With a handful of rough, plain boards, a good carpenter (such as Grandpa) can add just the right touches at just the right places to accomplish just the purpose he intends. There seems to be an aura of nobility to the craft, and the look of a finished product (art, some would call it) satisfies the carpenter's mind.

It's interesting to think that Jesus was a carpenter. We don't know a lot about his endeavors in the trade, but I think it's safe to say that he would have spent much of his pre-ministry days in the shop. In the Middle East in the first century A.D., there was no air-conditioning. Imagine the discomfort of the heat, the frustration of hand working everything, the pain of cuts, sore muscles... Yet through it all, Jesus shaped and molded the raw materials into the objects he wanted.

Jesus really is in the business of carpentry. Yes, he constructed whatever carpenters built in that age, but he is a carpenter of lives even more. We are all born rough. Sin has warped our souls, marking us with holes, gashes, and imperfections on every face. We're fit for nothing but burning, really. Jesus, though, is the master carpenter. Once we become His, we are subject to His work. Jesus paid the eternal price for us-though we were worth not a penny-and is constantly at work mending, shaping, and fitting the broken pieces of our lives into a work of both beauty and utility.

Why does he do this? God loves us. By taking us from nothing and making us into something useful, He proves that His desire is for us to be beloved objects of use, not just a pile of waste. Not only that, but a carpenter's talent is proved by His work. Although we will never be finished in this life, it takes unfathomable skill to make scrap into product. Our lives are to show His glory. For that, I am eternally grateful and humbled. Thank you, Jesus, for the work of Your hands.