An old saying goes likes this; measure twice cut once. It is an obvious premise. If one is careful in the beginning, planning, measuring, and measuring again, then one will do have to do the job all over again. Somehow, the old carpenter’s saying did not anticipate someone with my approach.
In the corner of the woodshop is a special box of scraps. Most of the content is pieces that I carefully planned, measured two and three times, and somehow they still did not turn out like I imagined.
The first few times this happened, I was frustrated! There was no excuse. There was no explanation. I could offer no believable rationale. Whatever story might be offered was ridiculous.
I found myself at a fork in the road. I could respond like one teacher with a bad group of students. “All they did was argue contentiously and contradict him at every turn. Totally exasperated, Paul had finally had it with them and gave it up as a bad job. ‘Have it your way, then,’ he said. ‘You’ve made your bed; now lie in it. From now on I’m spending my time with the other nations.’” (Acts 18.6)
Alternatively, I could take an approach that accepted and learned from the moment at hand.
Without any comment on how anyone else might approach the situation, I have chosen the latter. I love compassion.
I find that I am slowly learning. While it is still big, my scrap pile is not near as large as it used to be. The greatest difference lies in my approach. I assume that I am prone to making mistakes so I reach out to others and work with them on as many projects as I can. I verbalize what I plan and am doing as a way of better understanding. I allow myself the opportunity to correct my mistakes and slips before I make the final cuts.
I did not anticipate a wonderful benefit that came with this choice. I became a student, always assuming I need to learn. It is a process.
