Do It Yourself.

Do It Yourself.

The Warrior Waits.

I have never ever been good at do it yourself projects. By that I mean restyling a room or fixing a broken wall , or plastering , or even electrical . Fortunately for me I have been blessed with many friends that would show me or help my to do such jobs.

It has always puzzled me this inability to do these things. Puzzled because as a struggling student, trying to get myself through university I found many little ways to earn some much needed money to pay for the books I needed. For example, I discovered that carpet rolls were delivered to furniture stores wrapped around a bamboo pole. That those bamboo poles were thrown out as waste. I managed to get the manager of the shop o save them for me and for a tiny fee sell them to me. Almost a token gesture on both our parts. From these poles I cut and fashioned shapes to make bracelets, belts and necklaces. Using an old table knife heated red hot I would turn them to a beautiful ebony brown with a lovely sheen from the natural juices brought out by the heat. 

The tourists of Edinburgh seemed happy to purchase those from the bar of the hotel where I had a partime job.

I was remembering those just the other day and it reminded me of the story of the carpenter.

An elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told his employer of his plans to leave the house building business and live a more leisurely life with his wife enjoying his extended family. He would miss the wages, but he needed to retire. They would manage with the small pension they would get.

His employer was sorry to see his good worker go and asked if he could build just one more house as a personal favour. The carpenter said," Yes."  In a short  time it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work. He resorted to shoddy workmanship and used inferior materials. It was an unfortunate
way to end his career.

When the carpenter finished his work and the builder came to inspect the house, the contractor handed the front-door key to the carpenter.

"This is your house," he said, "my gift to you."

What a shock! What a shame! If he had only known he was building his own house, he would have done it all so differently. Now he had to live in the home he had built none too well.

How often it is so with us.

We build our lives in a distracted way, reacting rather than acting, willing to put up less than the best. At important points we do not give the job our best effort. Then with a shock we look at the situation we have created and find that we are now living in the house we have built. If we had realized, we would have done it differently.

Think of yourself as the carpenter. Think about your house. Each day you hammer a nail, place a board, or erect a wall. Build wisely.

It is the only life you will ever build.

Even if you live it for only one day more, that day deserves to be lived graciously and with dignity.

I have a plaque on my study wall it  says, "Life is a do-it-yourself project."

Who could say it more clearly? Your life today is the result of your attitudes and choices in the past. Your life tomorrow will be the result of your attitudes and the choices you make today.