Chopping and Assessing: Size Your Assignment

Mary working in the soil

 

Men can starve from a lack of self-realization as much as they can from a lack of bread.

Richard Wright

One of the other necessary acts my grandfather, Joe, who was Mary’s father,  performed for his garden was the construction of poles for which the butter bean vines would grow. A wood source was needed for this effort. So this required him to venture into the woods adjacent to our house, with his power saw in tow, to use for cutting down a tree. After this massive focused labor, he hauled the tree back to the yard, then used his axe to size the pieces for the poles. So he drew from two implements in the tool shed to use in this effort.

The right chopping movements helped Joe shape the cut tree for its purpose, which was to harness those vines so they could sprout strong. He knew the ‘force was with him’ as he handled the axe, relentless toward his purpose. My grandfather knew he had the ability of physical strength in using this tool, but if needed he used the power saw again, to further bring muscle to this process.

Joe was on assignment, splitting up this timber. As he yielded the axe, he’d occasionally stop to assess if the sizes and numbers were correct—a fit of the poles needed for the rows. Once done with this part of the task, the leftover pieces of wood were stacked as fuel for the stoves or for him to use in rigging up something else needed for the house or yard. So the tree and the axe had multi assignment purposes to help my grandfather with his calling of responsibility.

How do we size up our essential abilities for the assignments in our life roles, careers, and community efforts?  Where do we go to find meaning in where we’re supposed to be—our assignment?

Oftentimes, we respond to a calling, whatever that looks like for each of us. As Dr. King also stated, everybody can serve in some capacity. Whatever that is for each of us, we should strive to be the best at it. How do we get shaped for our purpose?

We are all bestowed gifts through our DNA, our “delivered natural ability,” to be shared with the world. These assets or skills stand to make our actions complete and we tow them around. Coming from our innate talents, good and bad experiences, formal and informal education, these traits sprout forth as our achievements. All of these pieces shape us and eventually we whittle them down to what’s useful for our designed goals.

Parts excerpted from my  book: Tools to Cultivate the Promised Land: Working Wisdom From My Grandparent’s Garden

http://www.amazon.com/Tools-Cultivate-Promised-Land-Grandparents/dp/1489597581