For the word of God is living
and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the
division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the
thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrews 4:12
This is a story told by
Samuel T. Whitman
"The story of the iron
wedge began years ago when the white'-haired farmer was a lad on his
father’s homestead. The sawmill had only recently been moved from the valley
and the settlers were still finding tools and odd pieces of equipment scattered
about.
"On
this particular day, it was father's wedge—wide, flat, and heavy; a foot or
more long, and splayed from mighty poundings. The path from the south pasture
did not pass the wood shed; and, because he was already late for dinner, the
lad laid the wedge between the limbs of the young walnut tree his father had
planted near the front gate. He would take the wedge to the shed right after
dinner, or some time when he was going that way.
He
truly meant to, but he never did. It was there between the limbs a little
tight, when he attained his manhood. It was there, now firmly gripped, when he
married and took over his father's farm.
It was half grown-over on the day the threshing crew ate dinner under
the tree...“Grown in and healed over, the wedge was still in the tree when the
winter ice storm came.
In
the silence of that wintry night, with the mist-like rain sifting down and
freezing where it fell, one of the three major limbs split away from the trunk
and crashed to the ground. This so unbalanced the remainder of the top that it,
too, split apart and went down. When the storm was over, not a twig of the
once-proud tree remained.
Early
the next morning, the farmer went out to mourn his loss. `Wouldn’t have had
that happen for a thousand dollars,' he said. `Prettiest tree in the valley,
that was.'
Then, his eyes caught sight of something in the splintered ruin. `The wedge,' he muttered
reproachfully... `The wedge I found in the south pasture.' A glance told him why the tree had
fallen. Growing edge-up in the trunk,
the wedge had prevented the limb fibers from knitting together as they
should."
Forgotten wedges!
The wedge that had grown into
the tree had prevented the tree’s fibers from growing together completely,
leaving the tree weak and vulnerable.
There are two valuable
lessons we can learn from this story.
- First, what we may put off today can have serious
consequences in the future.
- Secondly, forgotten wedges may seem to heal, but
left to fester they can be fatal.
What about forgotten
wedges? Do you have anything that may be
slowly festering? Things that may be
important to take care of but can wait?
Things you have wished would just go away without having to deal with?
Mole hills can become mountains, remember?
Hidden weaknesses grown over and invisible, waiting until some winter
night to work their ruin.
There are things that have
happened in our lives which could have been righted with a simple proper
handling of a situation. A relationship
could have been resolved with a brief apology but the person you hurt has been
avoided and now there are hidden pockets of bitterness. The wedge could have been removed and the
tree could have healed but now it has a sickness that will kill it.
The lesson of the day may be
to be sure to pick up all of your tools before you close for the day. Don’t leave a negative spirit with a sharp
edge lying around somewhere. You may
think nothing came of it until the relationship splits.
Scripture to Claim:
See to it
that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness
springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled; Hebrews 12:15
