The Work of His Hands

When someone in our small county dies everyone feels the pain in some way or another.  Last week we suffered a sudden and unexpected loss of one I would call a friend, though we haven't been in close contact lately.  Terry was 44 when he went to be with the Lord.  A few years ago I worked with his wife at the health center.  He had done some remodel work on our first house.  He fixed the "Hank hole," but that's another story.  He lent me his post hole auger last year.  I have a fine walnut and maple cutting board that he made.

At the funeral yesterday there was a time of open sharing and I had been asked ahead of time to share some words.  I didn't have anything planned and didn't know what I might say; I had never spoken at a funeral before.  Yesterday morning I opened up my Bible and landed on Psalm 111:1-4.

Praise the Lord!
I will praise the Lord with my whole heart,
In the assembly of the upright and in the congregation.
The works of the Lord are great,
Studied by all who have pleasure in them.
His work is honorable and glorious,
And His righteousness endures forever.
He has made his wonderful works to be remembered;
The Lord is gracious and full of compassion.

There's so much in this little passage and I could have spoken for awhile on these verses, but this is what I hope I conveyed:

We are all God's craftsmanship, the work of His hands.  As part of His creation, whether believers or not, we bear His mark.  We can rejoice, in spite of the hurt and sorrow and loss, that Terry was part of God's family and is now enjoying the splendor of His presence.  If we are believers and part of His family we all the more fully bear His mark and point to Him.  He is remembered (more fully known and seen) by the world by the works of His hands--His people.  Apart from God we would agree with the author of Ecclesiastes when he writes, "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity!"  If our hope and our work is in and of ourselves there is no hope. None. It is meaningless and it will not be remembered.  But if we are a part of His family and are focused on Him then our lives and our work do mean something greater in that it points to Him.  Terry, as a child of God will be remembered because the work he did was unto the Lord.  His heart, his passion, his smile, his relationship with his family, his willingness to help all pointed to his relationship with his heavenly father.

Terry also happened to be a fine wood worker.  He made fine furniture and other small items like our cutting board.  When I look at our cutting board it is marred by knife strokes from several years of use.  Whenever it is needed that cutting board it is there, doing it's job.  Terry's life is like that cutting board.  His love and openness, his willingness to help whenever and where ever needed, his relationships, his character, his interactions with little kids, his care for his farm animals, are like marks on the cutting board.  They won't go away.  We can look back and see and remember his life and know that it was lived for the glory of God.  And each of those marks directs our eyes to God.