Coco Calling No.283 - In The Hands of a Master Craftsman
My owner recently met a tree surgeon. When I first heard this, I had visions of some heroic human conducting open heart surgery on an ailing tree trunk. But then I discovered that all they really do is amputations. Yes, they chop, lop and chainsaw, sometimes suspended on ropes, pretending they can fly. It’s all a bit of a con really.
Still, this human was an interesting fellow, because he salvages some of the wood that he cuts down to make a whole array of different objects. These range from chopping boards through to work tops, and most important of all, nestboxes for birds. And everything he produces is both rustic and unique.
The tree surgeon said that it was the trees which had seen a bit of life, -those which had battled against the elements and become bent and gnarled and damaged -which provided him with the best materials to work with. Those trees which had enjoyed an easy life were less interesting and lacked character. And the thought occurred to me that this also applies to humans and parrots. For it is often those of us that have been forced to toil and strive and negotiate life’s troubles that go on to become a whole lot deeper and full of wisdom. Because every single one of our experiences leaves its mark on us, sometimes physically and sometimes spiritually. Our journey through life serves to shape and mould us into the unique individuals that we are, and very often, it is those bad experiences which provide us with the impetus to seek out our Creator. And of course, He is the ultimate Master Craftsman.
“God allows us to experience the low points in life in order to teach us lessons that we could learn in no other way.”
(C. S. Lewis:[1898-1963]: Northern Irish writer, scholar, academic and Anglican lay theologian)
“Yet, O Lord, you are our Father.
We are the clay, you are the potter;
we are all the work of your hand.”
(Isaiah 64:8)
“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”
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