Thursday, March 13, 2014
The Lessons of Woodworking
Nothing worth doing can be done fast.
Justin Taylor quotes John Newton on "If God Is Sovereign, Why Is My Sanctification So Slow?" New ton gives a careful examination of the question, but the answer seemed transparent to me.
As I grow in my woodworking hobby, the most notable trend is that everything takes longer. That's right, the better I get, the longer it takes. The better I get, the more care I put into setting up for each cut and the more care I take in making each cut. The truer my cuts, the more flush my joints, the longer they have taken. Perfection - something I have yet to attain, come snot at the end of the power saw blade, but at the tip of the chisel after the power cut, perfecting the edge.
Doing something well takes time. We invent better ways, but are they better? The only way a power tool can make the perfect cut every time is if it is set up to do the same cut, hundreds, even thousands of times, then locked down - hard. But God is not mass producing people - we are each individual creations, unique and well-designed. He has to use the slow and laborious process of the chisel and sandpaper.
For us to lose patience with that measn we want to be mass produced, Wal-Mart sold, Chinese made pieces of disposable stuff. I think we are better than that.
making stuff
As I grow in my woodworking hobby, the most notable trend is that everything takes longer. That's right, the better I get, the longer it takes. The better I get, the more care I put into setting up for each cut and the more care I take in making each cut. The truer my cuts, the more flush my joints, the longer they have taken. Perfection - something I have yet to attain, come snot at the end of the power saw blade, but at the tip of the chisel after the power cut, perfecting the edge.Doing something well takes time. We invent better ways, but are they better? The only way a power tool can make the perfect cut every time is if it is set up to do the same cut, hundreds, even thousands of times, then locked down - hard. But God is not mass producing people - we are each individual creations, unique and well-designed. He has to use the slow and laborious process of the chisel and sandpaper.
For us to lose patience with that measn we want to be mass produced, Wal-Mart sold, Chinese made pieces of disposable stuff. I think we are better than that.
making stuff
