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We should never take for granted the blessing of having our elders alive on
the earth. We can learn so much in wisdom and in understanding if we the
younger generation invest our time sitting at the feet of those who are
high in stature concerning the wisdom they've accumulated throughout their
life. We should never assume that we know it all or that there is nothing
left to learn about life and living because if we examine our life, we will
always find room for improvement. Be encouraged to be humble in spirit and
ask those who are wiser than you the questions that can impact your life
and make you better so that your improved life can help the lives of others.
I hope you are encouraged by today's message to invest your time listening
to the older generations who have gone through what we go through and who
can encourage us to never lose heart. We will be taking advantage of the
plentiful wisdom which surrounds us.
INHERITANCE DAY
In the autumn of my grandfather's ninety-second year, he moved to a
retirement home. The decision to move had been a long time in the making.
Grandma had died two years earlier. He was afraid that closing the door to
their home one last time would make their goodbye permanent. Complicating
the decision was their dog, Babe, who was going with him no matter what.
Dispensing the family heirlooms was the final hurdle...the kitchen table
he'd built from a wind-shook cherry tree in 1941, Grandma's mahogany bed,
and the woodworking tools.
Since childhood, I had shown a penchant for tools of all types. I spent a
fair portion of my youth perched on Grandpa's workshop stool, eyeing his
implements and learning about their upkeep.
“Delta-Milwaukee drill press, built in 1939,” he instructed. “Oil it once
a month. Craftsman table saw. Don't ever buy a new one; just buy another
motor when the old one goes bad. These are carving knives. Keep them sharp.
A dull knife is a dangerous knife.”
Then the most beautiful words of all to my young ears: “Someday these tools
will be yours.”
I could scarcely wait for them to be mine, not thinking how receiving them
would signal Grandpa's final days. Whenever I visited him, I would finger
the tools, imagining them in my workshop. But as I grew older and my
affection for Grandpa increased, my yearning for his tools diminished. I
began to realize they would be bought at a heavy price.
A week before he entered the retirement home, he invited me to his house.
“Bring a truck,” he said. I arrived the next morning with my friend Jim.
Grandpa hobbled out to his workshop, and I followed. Jim had the good sense
to linger in the background. Grandpa unlatched the door and we made our
way inside.
He rested his hand on the drill press. “This is a 1939 Delta-Milwaukee
drill press,” he told me. “You'll need to oil it once a month." He worked
his way through to the carving knives. "Remember to keep these sharp. A
dull knife is a dangerous knife.” It was a sober morning.
My wife and I unloaded the tools that evening and carried them to my
basement workshop. I arranged them just so while my little boy Spencer
looked on from his perch on the workshop stool.
“This was Grandpa's drill press,” I told him. “Now it belongs to me. And
these are carving knives. When you're bigger I'll show you how to use them.”
He looked up at me from the stool. “Can I have them?”
“Yes, Spencer, someday a long time from now, when Daddy doesn't need them
anymore, these tools will be yours.”
He grinned a shy grin. Those were beautiful words to his young ears.
Forty-five years from now, I'll totter out to my workshop with son in tow.
It will be his Inheritance Day. I will have oiled the drill press once a
month, just as Grandpa taught me to do. It will be one hundred years old
and will work just fine. My son's friend will linger in the background,
while Spencer and I go over the tools' upkeep one last time. “Don't forget,
son, a dull knife is a dangerous knife.”
I wonder if on that day my son will feel the melancholy I felt on my
Inheritance Day I wonder if he'll lie awake on that distant night, wishing
his daddy was still long for this world, as I wish that now of Grandpa.
Late at night, when my sons are asleep and my wife is reading in her chair,
I go down to my workshop and think of grandpas and daddies and sons and the
faithful rhythm of it all.
By Philip Gulley
Read and meditate on these scriptures:
Proverbs 4:5-7 “Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither
decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall
preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee. Wisdom is the principal
thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.”
1 Peter 5:5-7 “Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea,
all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God
resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves
therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”
Philippians 1:6 “Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath
begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
John 14:27 Jesus declares “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto
you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be
troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
All of these scriptures can be found in the King James Version Bible.
Today’s Selected Poem: LIFE WITHOUT PURPOSE
Click here to read --- http://www.Godswork.org/inpoem57.htm
Today’s Selected Testimony: STILL LEARNING
Click here to read --- http://www.Godswork.org/testimony16.htm
In Christ’s Service,
Dwayne Savaya
Gods Work Ministry |
