(Something triggers a memory) and I’m taken back through time to the basement of our Mycenae home. We called it the cellar and it was the original Man cave.

I’m a young girl alone in a far corner of our damp and musty cellar. Cinder blocks go from floor to ceiling to make cellar walls. I’ve learned the hard way that getting too close to the jagged blocks can cut my fingers.

Standing on the concrete floor, I look up at my father’s workbench. It intrigues me. I wonder what all the tools are for. Busy working two jobs to provide for his family, my father has little time to work with his treasured tools.

Yet, they are there and accessible. Three tools in particular hold my attention; the vise, plane and level.

Today, I’ve come to understand that each tool has a special purpose.

*Vise: ‘A device having two jaws opened and closed as by a screw, used for holding firmly an object being worked on.’

*Plane: ‘A carpenter’s tool for leveling or smoothing wood.’

*Level: ‘An instrument for determining the horizontal.’
[Definitions-‘Webster’s New World Dictionary]

Jesus, the Carpenter, is busy at His heavenly workbench.

He has a firm grip, holding me securely in place.

“And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and my Father are one (John 10:28-29 NKJV).”

He has sent the Holy Spirit to smooth out my rough spots.

“Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment (John 16:7-8 NKJV).”

Christ fulfills the Father’s purpose and will for my life. His level hand keeps me vertically and horizontally in line.

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 22:36-40 NKJV).”

Published articles in Mature Living Magazine, Devotions for the Deaf, The Secret Place, Coosa Journal, Mary Hollingsworth's The One Year Devotional of Joy and Laughter, Jo Krueger's Every Day in God's Word. http://www.pamforddavis.com
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