A Simple Man and a Timeless Truth
I’ll never forget the day Grandpa taught me how to use the drill press. I was a girl of about 11 spending a warm summer day at Grandma & Grandpa’s, just down the road on our family farm. Grandpa was doing some carpentry in the garage when he offered to teach me the use of the machine. I wasn’t sure about the press at first, but I loved the soft whir of the motor and the twisty shavings that piled up around the project, so I let Grandpa become my mentor.
First I watched intently as he drilled through a piece of soft wood he’d furnished for me. Then he stood close behind me as I got a feel for the feed wheel, which controls the lowering of the bit onto the material. Finally, he let me press the bit into the wood. I hesitated a little as the bit met gentle resistance encountering the material. Grandpa encouraged me then to keep pressing until I’d drilled all the way through. It was awesome. The hole was perfectly round. It looked expert. I was proud of my work!–enough so that I spent the next hour drilling holes, grandpa occasionally changing the size of the bit so I could make creative patterns.
Forty years later, I still use the press. It’s now become a tool of new beginnings as we remodel the farmhouse where not only Grandpa lived, but 4 generations before him, and now three generations after. I’m making a plate rack for my kitchen, and I think of Grandpa’s gentle ways as I work. I smile that he taught me to use the machine, and I remember that it was he who also taught me the use of the scroll saw. I’m grateful as I realize how his early mentoring gave me confidence to use many power tools during our current project.
As it often does, my mind wandered to the spiritual realm. Mentoring: that process by which a simple man like my grandfather can teach a craft to a young protegé that will serve her and others years after he has passed from the earth. I remember the spiritual mentors who taught and encouraged me, not out of professional training, but out of the life they shared with the Savior. And I am again grateful. They’ve given me something valuable I can pass on to others that will last long after I pass from this earth. They’ve given me the eternal. That’s how it works. All it takes is a simple belief in Jesus and the timeless truth of walking with others. The work is awesome, and perfect, and expert, for it is God who works in us for His good purpose. It’s His plan for passing on His Kingdom. He was a carpenter too you know.
Finally, my mind wanders to those whom God has allowed me the privilege to lead. There my heart feels incomparably full. For what will I take into eternity but the souls of those I have nurtured in God’s Kingdom? Two things on earth are eternal they say: the Word of God and the souls of men. May it always be enough for me to simply, timelessly, carry those two loves, to nurture them as my grandfather nurtured me, and to know their influence will live on long after I pass from the earth.