When the boys were younger it
seemed that every gift they asked for had to be put together. They weren’t satisfied with action figures or
toy cars; they needed forts and race tracks and complicated gizmos. Now, anyone who knows me even a little bit
knows that when it comes to constructing something or fixing things I am all
thumbs and toes. Just the other day I
was telling a friend about a deck I was going to build in our backyard for the grill
and bar.
“You’re going to build it or have
someone come in and do it?”
“I’m going to do it,” I
answered. “It shouldn’t be hard. It’s just flat and square.”
Garth gave me an unbelieving
look. “Okay, well, I’m close by if you
need me to show you what a hammer is.”
I could understand his skepticism. Usually when something needs put together
Char and Nathan do it and when the car breaks down Char and Zac are the ones
getting greasy. At those moments they
just look at me and say, “Why don’t you go to the porch and write about
this.” They don’t even want me to read
the instructions or hand them tools.
“Dad, what’s taking so long?”
“You asked for a flathead
screwdriver. All of these are round.”
“The other end, Dad.” A screwdriver to me is orange juice and
vodka, but they don’t drink while working on a car, so I’m even more confused.
Nowadays when about to purchase
anything I look for the words “Some Assemble Required” and will either do
without it or pay the store to put it together.
It’s worth that little extra cost not to look like a total idiot in
front of the girls. Of course, they’re
not fooled. Everyone knows I’m inept at
putting anything together but words.
Today, many of the packages come
with the “necessary tools and hardware” needed in order to assemble whatever
contraption you just purchased. They all
have those tiny screws and bolts, nails and dowels. At one time that’s all they gave you
expecting you to already own the required tools to beat your table into shape,
but now they even come with those miniature Allen wrenches that seem to only
fit their merchandise to keep you from going nuts. Of course, I always thought they were called
island wrenches and were only used when building tiki bars and straw huts. The one time I had to purchase one the
hardware employee just shook his head.
“If you can’t pronounce it, you shouldn’t use it.”
The whole reason I started
dwelling on this was because we had to buy some bookshelves for my study and as
in most simple things in our lives, I had to try and find a deeper
parallel. While it’s true that sometimes
a bookshelf is just a bookshelf, it’s also true that sometimes it’s much
more. In this case it was about
life. You see, in the beginning of our
lives we all get what we need. However,
some assembly is required. It makes
perfect sense when you think of all of the clichés people use such as “Build a
life for yourself” or “Make something of yourself”. Everything you need to live a fulfilled life
is right there; you just have to put it together. Furthermore, you’ve been given most of the
tools - patience, strength, tenacity, and ambition - that will help you
construct the life that you want. All
you have to do is use those tools and put forth the effort.
Life is that way. We’re given everything we need to make one,
but it is up to us to fill it according to our desires. Some will fill it with music or art, some with
career or entertainment, and yet others with family or travel. What you fill your life with is up to you and
your goals, but don’t leave it empty. A
bookshelf with nothing on it does not fulfill its purpose. Likewise, a life unfulfilled is
meaningless. While not everyone may have
a lofty destiny, everyone does have a reason to be here and we are all given
the tools to fulfill it. Don’t allow
your life to lay empty. Fill it with the
things that bring joy to your heart and to those around you.
Of course, when filling the
bookshelf there is always the temptation to overfill it. I have a couple of bookshelves at home that
are overflowing with books. I keep
buying them, but I never get rid of any whether I’ve read them or not. I have books stacked on top of books as well
as piled on the edge in front hanging on for dear life. It’s hard for me to get rid of books after
I’ve read them, because when I finish a story I feel like I’ve made a
friend. Furthermore, like visiting
family in other states, I will open up the covers and revisit the merry
adventures of characters I’ve grown to care about. Char doesn’t tolerate such entanglements and
as soon as she finishes a book she’s ready to toss it and make room for the
next; that is, if I haven’t already snuck a book of mine in there.
Sometimes, and I can be very
guilty of this, we can treat our lives like I do my bookshelf and cram more and
more into it. Soon the bottom is ready
to fall out and the shelves are sagging.
Every day has twenty-four hours, every week has seven days and every
year has fifty-two weeks. However, we
will book ourselves up as if there are forty-eight hours in a day and two extra
days in a week. We need, as a whole, to
slow down and savor every moment that we have been fortunate enough to
experience. We can only accomplish so
much in this life and we need to decide what matters most to us and do away
with the rest. We don’t have to do
everything and truly, we can’t no matter how hard we try or desire to. Life is about choices.
No matter how careful I am to
follow the instructions, when all is completed I am left with extra parts. It’s inevitable. Bolts, screws, nails, it doesn’t matter. They’re there and I don’t need them. Perhaps the company doesn’t count them or
anticipates our clumsiness losing some, so they plan ahead and give us
extras. I keep them because, well, you
never know when you’re going to need those tiny little tack-like nails.
There will be things in this life
that we want to accomplish, but we won’t have the opportunity. Time will get away from us or more urgent
matters will crop up and take precedence.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that it will always be that way. Like our extra bolts and nails, one day we
may be able to pull those dreams and goals back out and see them come to
fruition.
Likewise, there may be extra
skills or talents that we have gained that currently we aren’t able to use or
enjoy. That doesn’t mean they will
always be left on the shelf to collect dust.
Life calls for different things at different times and it pays to have
more in your storage bin than you can use at any given time. If anything they are things you can enjoy in
the solitude of your home.
Once everything is put together,
the final step is to make sure it’s sturdy enough to withstand the storms that
will blow in, and they will blow in.
While the weight may cause us to bow a little, we don’t want to buckle
and collapse. We need to shore up the
supports of family and friends as well as the foundation of inner solidarity
and faith, whether faith in God or faith in yourself. Believe that you can withstand whatever life
hands you and you will stand.
Life doesn’t come to us all
figured out and put together. It
requires effort; it requires some assembly.
However, we’ve been given everything we need. Now, we just have to build a life for
ourselves.
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