Wednesday, August 8, 2012

The Wedge


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.
  1. First, what we may put off today can have serious consequences in the future.
  2. 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

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