About Me

I have done a lot of things in my life and have also worked in many different jobs to make a living and to experience life. This blog is just some of my musings, sometimes funny, sometimes inspirational, sometimes sad, sometimes angry, sometimes simple but all the time, it's just me.

Friday, January 14, 2011

It's tool time; what type of a tool are you?

Don't know how many of you have ever watched Home Improvement with Tim Allen. In the sitcom, he had a show within a show called Tool Time where Tim was a bumbling home improvement person who would always make fun of his side kick Al as well as a lot of people.

Having fun and laughing and being filled with joy is always a wonderful thing but sometimes, we tend to do it at the expense of others. There are times that we rub people the wrong way and sometimes people rub us the wrong way.

If you have a tool box or tool shed, you will likely have some sandpaper. Have you ever intentionally or accidentally rub sandpaper on your hand or elsewhere? It doesn't feel good, it's painful.

Just like that, we encounter the sand paper people everyday in our lives, someone that rubs us the wrong way, gets under our skin and sometimes we may be the sand paper person ourselves.

In Greek, the word workmanship means a work of art or a masterpiece. So when the scripture says, "For we are God's workmanship," it means we are being crafted into a masterpiece, a perfect tool to accomplish God's amazing plan for us.

And he puts sand paper people in our lives to smooth our rough edges like sandpaper does on furniture.

In life, just like a tool box, you will have a measuring tape. These are the people that are always measuring you and what you do and the first to tell you that you do not measure up properly. The measuring tape people are the perfectionist and judge by their own standards of righteousness.

I have said I am going to be honest in this blog but I know a measuring tape's in my life, he can be crappy and he has his own standards of what is right although it is wrong. Thankfully at the moment, he is away for a while.

Also in toolbox, you will have a hammer. Hammers just like to nail things through, push their own agenda and force their way. They can be loud and demanding or subtle and manipulative but they are stubborn and committed to using the force to get their way.

How many hammers have I faced in my life, mostly bosses, teacher's in school.

Most of us would also have sometime of a saw in out tool box. These are gifted at cutting other people down. Words may be sarcastic or straightforward but they are quick to cut people down and leave them bleeding to death on the floor. They win arguments every time not because they are right but because they know where to cut and weaken another person.

Oh how I bleed by some of these saws. Many friends have left me bleeding but I always patch myself up. I know a friend whose wife I definitely put in this category. They are quick to cut anyone down.

Some tool sheds will have a grip to hold things in place. The grips in life are those that get hold of you and will not let go. They are extra needy and usually squeeze life out of those around them. This people have no social and relational boundaries and bounce from one crisis to another and constantly needing support and encouragement.

Luckily I am generally free from this grips currently. Some family members tend to be like this at times.

Some people also have grinders in their toolbox. Grinders are those things that grind granite or something and you see sparks flying everywhere. These are the explosive personalities that are just waiting to go off and send sparks flying everywhere.

Then there is an axe. Axes are those who constantly cut a wide swath in their wake. Different from saws which are more skilled, axes just hack. Always negative, always grumbling and looking for ways to hack down the hopes, the dreams and plans of others.

Their cousins, the hatchets, usually take smaller chops but hold on to past hurts and grudges much longer. They do not know how to bury the hatchet.

Finally, there is the putty. These are the people who have no consistency and backbone. Eager to please and always agreeable, they change like chameleons so you never know what they feel or think.


Are you normal? If you answered yes, you are a big fat liar. Nobody is normal, I am not normal and you are not normal. We are all unique.

Although we are all unique, we are in the same toolbox, the Universe. And instead of working together to build lasting relationships, as God intends, we often criticize and point at someone else's faults and flaws.

We including me are quick to criticize others smallest flaws rather than look at our own and improve ourselves.

Many religious scriptures talk about this, in the Bible, Matthew 7 talks about why one looks at the speck of sawdust in another persons eye and pay no attention to the plank in one's own eye. The Mahabharata talks about looking at others flaws while ignoring one's own mistakes.

We all are super sharp at finding the sawdust in everybody else's eyes, a little speck of sawdust, a little fault, a little problem, a little sin, a little character flaw in someone else. But here is the real issue, we are so fixated on pointing out at other people's problems and issues that we totally miss out the planks sticking in our own lives.

Don't ignore the sawdust, help people remove the sawdust in their eye and help them heal with the power of Universe and the infinite love and gratitude.

But we tend to judge rather than help people heal.

And we need to start concentrating on our own shortcomings. Let God give us the courage and love to face our own flaws and mistakes.

Let God and the Universe heal us, change us, then other's will be more open and we will be more open to healing others rather than finding their faults.

Patience develops strength of character in us and helps us trust God more each time we use it until finally our hope and faith are strong and steady.

God intentionally places all these different people in our lives, the sandpaper, the hammer, the saw, the measuring tapes, the axes, the grinders, whatever else there may be in a toolbox.

He wants us to learn something, He wants us to be strong, He wants us to view things from a different perspective, to recognize something positive.

Next time you have a sandpaper person, or a hammer, or a measuring tape or any other tool person that irritates you, talk to God and ask Him, "What are you trying to teach me? What are you trying to build in my character? What are you trying to show me about my leadership? What are you trying to reveal to me about life?"

He has placed these people for a reason and he will reveal to you these reasons if you only take time to ask, then He will revel to you his love, his patience, his mercy.

And in my parting words today, remember that everyone you meet is afraid of something, loves something and has lost something.

Take care and be well.

3 comments:

Tracy said...

Interesting comparisons to a toolbox. I like to think of a saw as a tool to get rid of all those other people.

anju said...

i am happy to be a follower of ur excellent inspiring blogs..........dear friend..........

L.A.C.E. said...

Wow. Not only have I met those people. At some point in time I can remember being those people. Very thought provoking.