The Shelf-master

I totally get why Jesus was a carpenter. 

I ordered a bookshelf from Target last week and it came in a 60 lb. box. about the size of a vacuum cleaner.  I pulled out all the espresso colored boards and a nifty packet of cam screws, wood dowels, and normal screws sectioned off into numbered steps.  With a booklet and two screwdrivers, I went to town.

I laid out pieces of various shapes and sizes, and step by step the stack of  boards turned into furniture.

I felt pretty slick. I mean, I built something...kind of. Target helped. Once I did make a picture frame from scratch with the help of a master craftsmen. It took for-freaking-ever. but it was nice.

I imagine what it's like to really build something. You can't even make boards until the wood is seasoned.  Then, you have to have a design before you start. I guess if you think in 3D well, you wouldn't have to map it out, but you'd still have to know it.  Then, you plane your boards to make them flat. You have to cut, nail, and sand, sand, sand. 

When you're finished, what was once a tree with a lifespan is now a timeless piece of someone's home. It's useful, beautiful.

You know Jesus had a chuckle at the symbolism of it all while he was planing a scroll-shelf. I wonder if he made parables about furniture manufacturing and told them to Joseph. I know he sweated, and I'm sure he felt manly pride (in the Godliest way possible) when he ran his hand over a slick new design for a table, or carved Mary a uniquely beautiful chair.

Anyway, I'm grateful today for my bookshelf. It is lovely. I get a sense of manly pride (in girliest way possible) when I look at it. And soon it will be covered in books and Starbucks mugs, two of my favorite things. Because that is another thing about stuff Jesus makes. He dotes on it. He uses it. He covers it in his favorite things.