by Sandy Kirby Quandt

Have you ever used a dull tool? Maybe an ax or knife?

Perhaps you’ve tried cutting a piece of wood with a rusty saw. Or maybe you tried to snip a vine with a blunt pair of snips.

If you have, then I’m sure you know using dull tools requires extra work. Work that could be avoided if proper care was given to the tool.

Those of us who cut out fabric to sew a garment usually guard our sewing shears with a vengeance.

Those scissors are not to be used to cut paper. AGGGHHH.

You want to blunt a pair of scissors? Cut paper with them. Or worse. Cut open a plastic bag.

Nope. Sewing shears are for material and thread only.

My father protected his knives. He used them as they were intended to be used and sharpened them before they became dull to the point of useless.

In Ecclesiastes Solomon spoke to this fact. In his book of wisdom he said it is smarter to plan ahead and sharpen your ax before it becomes dull.

We may not own an ax, and see no point to this gem of wisdom, but what about the various areas, or tools, of our life?

Are there any areas where we’ve grown lax and allowed our ax to become dull?

Have we slacked off in our church attendance ?

Do we make the extra effort to join a Bible study group? Iron sharpens iron, you know.

Maybe we’ve stopped reading our Bible on a regular basis.We already know everything that’s in it, after all.

We’ve heard the stories a million times before, so why read it again?

But you know what I’ve found?

Each and everytime I read a passage of scripture, no matter how many times I’ve read it before, if I truly take the time to ask the Holy Spirit to open up his word to me, he reveals something new that just so happens to be relevant to where I am at that point in time.

Have you found that to be true as well?

So I’m thinking, maybe we need to look at our life for areas where we’ve allowed our tools to become dull, and sharpen those areas so we can be more effective for God’s work.

What do you think?

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If your ax is dull and you don’t sharpen it, you have to work harder to use it. It is smarter to plan ahead. Ecclesiastes 10:10 (GNT)

I wish you well.

Sandy

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