It Only Took Four

I don’t know if I can admit this: I read the directions. Well, I read most of the directions. Well, I think I read the directions – I just didn’t look closely at the diagrams.

Have you ever bought one of these pieces of furniture in a box? One of those articles you take home and assemble in “a few easy steps?” We did. It was a beautiful black book shelf and it fit our plans so well and our budget just as neatly. What could go wrong?

I had two thirds of it put together when I hit my snag. No big deal, if it doesn’t slide easily into place, a little extra force will compensate for the difficulty. Unless you end up having to glue parts back together. And it still didn’t fit.

Then I had this bright idea that if it is too big, saw some of it off. Partial disassembly was followed by a trip out to the garage. Bring out the power tool, connect to the power cord, a couple of caution checks to be on the safe and careful side and trim that baby down! Now it will fit. And sure enough it went together. But with a gap that displayed all too prominently the rough edge of my not so skillful skill saw cut. Now what? This is getting irritating.

Well, we can address the aesthetics later. For now, continue with construction. Anyway, that set of pre-drilled holes is in the wrong location. (This is when I discovered that I had flipped the board 180 degrees.) Out comes the drill and now I am drilling my own holes when I should have been able to use someone else’s.

Assembly complete. The wonderfully helpful wife steps in to complete the cosmetic touch up. And the unit is settled into its new home. Finally. This two hour project only took four. And all because one small set of details was overlooked.

I wish I knew what the lesson in all this is. Is it:
“Read and follow instructions,” or
“Details are important,” or
“Always allow more time than your original estimate,” or
“Pay someone else to put it together,” or
“You don’t have enough handy friends?”
Whatever the correct answer to my question is, I think I will have to be attentive to the full set of directives supplied for my next project.

Would there be any spiritual lesson lodged in the above scenario for someone who is following Jesus? If I wanted to put a theological twist to this I would probably say something like ‘every believer will wisely accept the full counsel of God’s Word to guide them in all their choices, not simply choosing the parts they find most easily accessible or palatable.’ And that would be valid, but I think we can say this in English.

Be sure you listen for all the instructions God has for you before you launch into whatever it is He has you doing. You could cut your work in half. I’ve seen this principle at work recently.

Tim Gramly
Education Pastor
SHBC
February 24, 2009