choose, measure, mark, cut

So today I was cutting a pile of wood to various dimensions for a project that I am helping a friend with. I would measure with a measuring tape, make my mark, then use a square to make a straight line across the 2x3 to be sure it was a straight and exact. The problem was that each board varied and the measurement of the finished board bounced around by about 1/8 of an inch on either side of where I needed to be. So I took the best board of the pile, made a perfect cut then took a measurement and made another perfect cut. (It took me cutting once to get it good then I shaved it to be perfect.) I then used this board to measure the other boards to cut. I would line it up, make my line and cut. This brought the tolerance down to about 1/32 of an inch. This was pretty good. But then I noticed that I was trying to get right next to the line when I cut. Then I tried centering the blade right on the line. It was perfect. Then the next one was perfect. And so on and so on. All of the rest of the boards were dead on.

I started to think about that and how it relates to the gospel. It’s the same idea of Christ being the Cornerstone. The perfect stone that all others are aligned by. I could see that the best way to get a consistent perfect cut was to line it up to the same perfect board. We, in turn, can line ourselves up with Christ who is the “Perfect Board” the “Cornerstone”. We will be straight and strong when we make our marks and when we align ourselves with him. We need to center our cuts or our choices on him.

We have the ability (responsibility, duty, opportunity…) to shape ourselves by the choices we make. There is no such thing as “finding yourself” only "building yourself". Board by board and brick by brick we build the house we live in. Thought by thought and choice by choice we build the character of who we truly are.