You Are Such A Tool

Every job and even every person has a certain set of tools which are necessary to make a task not only possible but manageable. Without proper tools, we can be thwarted at every turn in our attempt to successfully bring a job to its’ ultimate conclusion.
Carpenters need a wide array of good hammers, punches, levels and last but certainly not least, POWER tools. Being married to a carpenter I have come to know firsthand that a carpenter never has too many tools. Of course, in my humble opinion, the reason for all that “toolery” is their inability to keep track of their stuff. Therefore, one must have multiples of each item so there will always be one in rotation while the others have gone AWOL.
Mechanics need different tools and in their case it would seem they also need for everything to be smeared with a good coat of grease. I will interject here my firm conviction that a drop of grease the size of an English pea could quite easily cover and lubricate the entire earth. It seems to have the same reproductive abilities of coat hangers and Easter grass.
As soon as we start our little ones in school they need their own unique tools. A real sign of the changing times is proven in the advancements of student tools. Big Chief tablets, fat round red pencils, crayons that actually color in bright vivid hues, safety scissors and pots of edible paste (oh, come on you know you were guilty of that too) have been replaced by computers and stick glue.
Office workers would not be very effective without calculators, keyboards and software. Doctors must have tools to poke and probe their patient and others to help them understand the results of the aforementioned poking and probing. Teachers need tools to bring understanding to the inquiring minds of their students. And the beauty tools of the gentler sex are too numerous to mention.
Parents need tools as well. Some of the tools required here aren’t tangible tools but important just the same. Parents need vast resources of knowledge, patience, compassion and understanding. Without those character tools parents will have a difficult go of it in dealing with their children.
And, we all know the vast array of tools required to manage a household these days. Long gone are the days when a mop, broom and bag of rags proved to be adequate for almost any job. Now, vacuums, Swiffers, Wet Jets and Miracle Erasers make our job as Domestic Goddesses much easier. Easier, but still not enjoyable in my opinion.
I’ve found that aging brings about tools I never considered needing back in the day when I thought I would always feel good and look even better. There’s something terribly humbling about realizing that your personal tools have devolved to trifocals, hearing aids, and hair dye. Fortunately, (knock on wood) I still have my teeth. Since I routinely lose my “tools” I’m pretty sure that I don’t want to spend my days searching for my teeth. This has recently been compounded by the news report of denture paste causing zinc poisoning and neuropathy.
A subtle tool for the advancing in age set is the tool of tolerance. And apparently this is not new to the current generation since I seem to remember thinking often to myself “good grief, mom……give it a rest.” I think we need to guard against the loss of this mindset tool at all cost. When we find ourselves unable to allow someone else to have an opinion, or just be themselves, we skate out on very thin ice. Danger - Danger!
It is in the differing opinions of society that conversation, debate and healthy disagreement spring up and flourish. One thing I know for sure is not everyone agrees with me all the time and that’s a good thing. But, I find it disturbing when someone in disagreement with me chooses to try to make me feel small, critical, stupid or un-Christian because I’ve dared to express my own personal opinion.
Please don’t misunderstand me, I have no problem with someone who wishes to take issue with my opinion. But, please know that if challenged, I will defend my feelings, especially if they have been expressed in a situation of my own making. Feel free to disagree with me, but don’t pop off on your own vehicle of expression and make veiled innuendos about what I’ve said.
To me this is the same as talking about me behind my back. And yes, I am guilty of doing that from time to time myself. I’m working on that and hope to have that little character flaw squelched in the not too distant future.
The really wonderful thing about writing is being able to express something that applies to me. If the topic applies to others as well, that isn’t my fault. My topics become flesh when I identify something that resonates inside my own heart and demands to be addressed for my own sake. If it rankles with someone else perhaps it means there is something there that needs to be addressed in their own existence.
And goodness knows I love a good debate. I even have been known to enjoy a really good fight from time to time. I always loved to see the end of an argument in my house when I was young. My mom would make Dad cornmeal mush for dinner. He loved mush and Mom never made it unless she was mad at him. I came to realize this was her great gesture of apology. And his big ole’ grin when the pot hit the table in front of him, indicated his total acceptance of her culinary olive branch.
You don’t have to agree with me for me to love you. We may disagree, sometimes harshly but the making up and associated acts of apology and contriteness are good for my soul. And since I’ve introduced a bit of the spiritual, it occurs to me, even God has tools. Although omnipotent, He still chooses to put some little helpers in his tool belt. The church, religion as a whole, choirs, and preachers are definitely God’s POWER tools. But His most important tools are the little nuts, bolts, nails, buttons and paper clips - the seemingly little unimportant loose pieces holding everything together.
Those little loose pieces are all of us and we are important in the overall fulfillment of God’s will. We are not put here just to admire what God makes but to help Him make it better. Even though He doesn’t need us, He WANTS us - so it is up to us to decide what kind of tool we are going to be. Some of us are hammers, constantly pounding home a point, while others are gloves handling everything with great care. God never labeled us so we must choose our own function.
My hope is that I can be a successful level. I want to be able to see more than one side of an issue and identify with everyone concerned.
And so….you ARE such a tool…………but what tool are you? Roger says he’s a pry bar, constantly uprooting something either by design or sheer brute force out of frustration. It’s important that we recognize our “toolness.”
……and how was your day? I would really like to know.