Tools

My friend J gave me a great word picture last night.

He said that he had an image of himself working on a machine with his tools: anger, intimidation, and hurtful words to name a few. These are tools that he’s used all his life and they have served him well.

Standing behind him was God, saying “I’ve got some tools that would work very well here, would you like to use them?”

J said to God, “No, thanks, I’ll keep using my own tools.”

To which God replied, “OK, I’ll be right here if you ever need some different tools.” The tools were love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Wow, what a picture.

This past week, I started an argument with Carla, again. After we were done fighting and had settled down some, she said, “You always fight by SAYING you’re not fighting, but in reality, you start the fight and then try to look righteous when I respond.”

I didn’t want to agree with her, but I had to. It’s like I trip her and push her into the mud and then, when she comes up sputtering, I say “I’m not going to fight.”

What a dirty trick…

After she told me, “This is the way you fight,” I had a picture of me working on my relationship using the weapons of anger and belittlement. What a foolish way to be successful.

Couple the word picture I had with what J told me about using God’s tools and BOOM! Epiphany.

What a powerful picture. I’m a tool kinda guy and this isn’t the first time that God has spoke to me with a tool/car metaphor. Isn’t it cool that God understands us each so intimately? From this point on, I’m praying and asking God to show me how to use his tools. I’m going to leave mine in the box.