‘Whittling away at the Good Stuff”

Have you ever watched a whittler at work?

The artist - Creator - if you will, begins with a vision, a raw piece of wood and choice carving tools. An experienced Whittler knows His wood. He knows from the beginning the perfect END application that is best for each individual piece of wood. Slow and steady strokes are made – precision scoring for He knows how to apply the right amount of pressure at just the right time. He knows what to remove . . . He know just what to keep. This process can be long and even arduous depending on the chosen material - the harder the wood - the harder the work . . . but eventually . . . from an otherwise ordinary or even less than average piece of wood, a beautiful image begins to take shape. If you’ve ever watched a whittler at work, you’ll know that while the work takes a long time, the image that eventually takes shape is breathtaking when it is complete . . . and well worth the wait.

Now, if you’ve ever stood long enough in a crowd watching these amazing artists, there is always one in the crowd (possibly even yourself) who assumes that the whittling endeavors are quite easy and proceeds to pridefully take control of a carving tool and try his hand. The unskilled carver often chisels away at the good along with the scrap, damaging the work of art in the process. Such is often the case as we take control over our lives. Impatiently, we often grab at the carving tools and begin to shape our ‘self’ – in the image WE believe we should be.

I believe that a person is only as good as his/her good name.

All too often, the good work that is being done on us – IN us is often compromised by the work of our own hands. One, who’s walking in the good carves a little slice away as he/she rages out at another – slices even more away as he/she delights in another’s fall – slices away still yet when he/she compromises the Order and Rules set before us in order to get just a little farther in life.

A good Whittler knows - it’s usually the tiniest of nicks that causes the greatest change in the overall appearance of the final piece.

As I have grown, I have been blessed with many artistic talents . . . but even today, I’ve never been great with a carving tool. My precision is not sound – my timing is often all wrong and I often don’t realize my own strength – using too much force when I’m to be softer in nature.

Looks like I’ll be leaving that job up to the professional . . . so in the meantime, I’ll just keep digging.