If I Had A Hammer...

My oldest son, Ryan, gave me a most unusual Father's Day gift.

To some dads, this present would not have been odd at all. For me, though, it seemed a little strange.

I looked inside the gift bag and noticed something wrapped up down at the bottom. I surmised quickly that it was probably a necktie, or maybe a book. Imagine my surprise when I reached in, unrolled the paper, and discovered a hammer!

For me?

Anybody who knows yours truly is aware that I'm no handyman. I hardly know one tool from another. Never built anything. Avoid nails and pliers and screwdrivers like the plague. Would just as soon call in and pay outside help to hang a picture on the wall. Absolutely zero carpentry skills.

Why was I getting a hammer, albeit a nice, new one?

I remembered that Ryan, 26, and Christie were moving into their new home that very weekend. Was this a subtle hint, a request for assistance with all that had to be done as their residence changed? Surely not. My son knows all too well my limitations in the manual labor department.

Then I read the card.

He thanked me for the "construction" I had done in his life as he grew up. He expressed the hope that I would do some similar work with his son, Micah, my new grandson. The tool was a symbolic gift. A metaphor. A picture. The hammer was a token of gratitude for spiritual building in the past and a challenge for the future.

I understand what he meant but I feel so unworthy of the compliment. Sometimes all I see are my failures as a father. Believe me, there were many. Nevertheless, this simple gift was a powerful encouragement to me and spoke louder than words.

All of us have some building to do. Not just with literal bricks and mortar and paint and lumber. Not just in adding on a room or a deck, or in refurbishing a den. Spiritually, we should constantly be cooperating with the Master architect-contractor-owner of our lives as He works to expand and enlarge and decorate our souls. It's an ongoing process. Check 2 Peter 1:5-9 on that. You and I are works in progress.

At the same time, we're to be building up other people. That's to happen in the fellowship of the church as we encourage and confront and teach and admonish and pray for one another. That takes place, too, in the family as we nurture and correct and discipline and love our spouses and our children and our grandkids. We add on whole new rooms in each other's spirits. We deepen the capacities of one another for rich, vibrant living.

So, yes, to do all that we must have, among other things, hammers for the soul. You notice that these particular tools have 2 parts, enabling 2 different functions. With one side, you press nails in. We all need truth and grace and love and direction placed in us. Sometimes(ouch!) that hurts. At other times we hardly feel it. With the alternate side, nails can be pulled out. There is stuff in our lives that ought to come out. And we all make mistakes. This side of the hammer affords us the chance to make a correction, to start over. To have a fresh beginning.

Perhaps all of us would benefit from giving and receiving these symbolic, metaphorical gifts occasionally. Not all the time, please. Usually we need those neckties or books or new shoes or shirts or CD's. But from time to time, "picture" gifts could serve useful purposes.

They could illustrate for us, in ways that words never could, just what we mean to someone else or what they mean to us. They could, with specificity, describe character traits or personality styles or ministry skills that we didn't know we possessed. They might serve as fresh motivators to get us actively engaged in people's lives so as to be a blessing, since something about us was noticed and observed, something that made a difference.

Imagine getting, or giving, a pencil sharpener that communicates that lives are shaped and sharpened by interaction with someone. Made better(Proverbs 27:17). Visualize the gift of a pillow, that offers the message that one feels comfortable around another. Somehow relaxed. Or that worries and fears can be brought to one and peace can be found. How about a pack of seeds? They suggest that a person is sowing kindness or good deeds or a worthy example. A vase of flowers illustrates that an individual brightens up a room, or adds color to life, or brings fragrance to a friendship. A world globe reminds us that we're to have a mission heart for the planet. A simple but beautiful rock provides an opportunity for one person to reveal to another that they find stability and quiet strength in the relationship. A can of spinach may be a way of telling a friend that they seem to have a knack for bringing to a conversation or a discussion or even a disagreement what is needed even if it's not easy going down.

You get the idea.

Thank you so much for my gift, Ryan. I will treasure it. I mean that. I really want to live up to the sentiment you sought to convey when you gave it.