February Reflection – Focusing on gathering the tools
By Betty McComb
Betty, from Isle of Wight (very South of England), UK, was appointed as International Treasurer at ICGB 2018 in Zambia. Betty has grown up through Girls’ Brigade and celebrated 40 years as a leader in 2016. Betty has two grown-up daughters who are also leaders in GB and is married to Colin – an avid golf player. She retired from her career in banking last year and enjoys walking along the beach with her daughter’s German shepherd, meeting with friends and being a trustee for Ryde Baptist Church.
I send greetings from the Isle of Wight. Our motto is “All this beauty is of God” and everyday I thank God for the beauty that surrounds us.The New Year has begun and our farmers look to the future. They need to service their equipment. We see plants & crops growing in the fields. We see blossom &fruit growing on the trees. We see the flowers growing but we do not see what is going on below the surface of the soil but God does and is in control.
The same is true in our lives. God provides us with all of the tools we need for the challenges we will face, not only in the gifts he gives us but also the people he places around us to support and work with us. God uses his skill and craftsmanship to shape us. He will shape us and mold us to do his will. We are God’s tools. How awesome is our God.
‘I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power. Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ.’
Ephesians 3:7-8
A carpenter was about to go to lunch and tidied all his tools before leaving. As soon as he left the workshop they all started arguing. The string moaned that the hammer was too noisy, the hammer moaned that he spent all day trying to knock sense into the nail, the nail moaned that the wood wouldn’t let him go in straight, the wood moaned that there was no point to the pencil, the pencil moaned that the ruler thought he rules everything, the ruler moaned about the knife and his cutting comments, the knife moaned that the sandpaper was always rubbing him up the wrong way, the sandpaper moaned that the screw kept going round & round, the screw moaned that the screwdriver was always getting on top of him, the screwdriver moaned about the glue saying “he had never known anyone so stuck up” and the glue moaned about the string saying “it was always getting tied up”.
The carpenter returned and saw the mess and realised what had happened. He said nothing but took the piece of wood and using all the tools in turn he crafted a plough for a poor villager to enable him to earn a living. At the end of the afternoon he tided his workshop and left with the plough. As soon as he left the tools gathered round and started talking. They realised that in the carpenter’s hand together they could create beautiful things but it took all of them working together using their individual skills and talents. Individually they could achieve nothing. The same is true for us. God places us in fellowship with others to work together, with him as the carpenter. Through God we can achieve beyond our wildest dreams.
