Lessons From The Wood Pile

I was off on Tuesday so I decided after the rain let up to get a start on my wood pile. Although I get little time normally to do physical labour, and as a result am not in the best of shape for it, it still feels good, even though it hurts.

For one thing, it’s nice to be able to do something where you can actually see the ongoing progress of your effort and watch things come together. You can take a step back at anytime and, even though your back may ache a little, the satisfaction is there to soothe it. There’s nothing like that sense of accomplishment. Ah!

For a man, a good wood pile is a beautiful thing to behold. The last time my brother in law Doug was at our place he casually commented upon entering ‘nice wood pile’. Now, how many women do you know that would say that? Huh? And really mean it! It’s definitely a guy thing.

For the uninitiated, you need to realize that you don’t really pile fire wood anyway. You build a wood pile and it takes some skill to do it well. It is especially important to carefully select and skillfully place the pieces in the bottom section. I know it’s not rocket science. Anyone can tell you that the foundation of anything is always the most important part. However, with a wood pile you have the added factor that you are just going to tear the whole thing down in a couple of months anyway when it is time to put it in. So, you don’t want to spend inordinate amounts of time with it. But then again, the last thing you want is for the whole thing to blow over in a weeks time when the first good gust of wind hits it.

Working with firewood is not precision work. The shapes and sizes are awkward; never really symmetrical and no two pieces are the same. But then there’s that time factor again. And so it happens that as you build each rank there are times when you need to ‘sure it up’. Here comes the ‘technical’ part of it. Stay with me on this. It is at this point that you need to employ the use of some ‘stabilizers’. A ‘stabilizer’ is a specifically chosen piece inserted at a strategic location which serves to strengthen the entire rank. (No, you can’t buy them at the hardware store, you have to find them yourself by carefully searching through your wood pile.)

So as I’m working away on my wood pile (with the Bonanza theme music running through my head… where did that come from?) I’m thinking about life. And I find myself wondering, what are the ‘stabilizers’ that I need to have in place to prevent my life from becoming precarious? They may not be large because size is not the issue. Upon casual observance, they won’t even be noticeable to others. But what are those little things that we carefully choose and strategically place in our lives that give real stability to our living?

You’ll have to forgive me but this is just how my mind works and it never stops. I see a lesson in every rock, a precept in every task, a principle at work in every cranny of creation. So for what it’s worth here it is.

We can have all kinds of zeal and passion for life and all the energy to go with it, but if we are not consciously taking the time to carefully and continually insert key elements in strategic locations in the routine of our lives as we build from day to day, at some point the whole thing could just quite suddenly all fall over! In fact, isn’t this what we see happening every day all around us – people’s lives falling apart?

At this point (if you’re still reading!) you’re probably wondering what those elements are or should be. I hesitate to do that thinking for you, but for me they include things like these… being thankful… being accountable… being honest with my wife… regular Bible reading and prayer… doing things for others… being content … taking time to really listen…