All the Beautiful Things Made by Hands
I’m blessed to have a partner with a creative mind, generous heart, and skillful hands.
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When my husband Mike and I first started dating, I knew him as someone who was good with numbers and fixing things, among his many qualities. I also knew that his maternal grandfather was a skilled furniture maker. However, I never expected that Mike would one day follow in his grandfather’s footsteps and develop a keen interest in woodworking.
It all started after we bought our first house. When Mike told me that he would like to try woodworking as a hobby, I initially didn’t overthink it. I imagined he would create some sawdust by playing with scrap wood and lose interest quickly after the novelty faded.
Mike's journey into woodworking had a humble beginning-playing with small tools and scrap wood, and generating a lot of sawdust. Yet, his interest in woodworking never waned. He took a few classes, but his true dedication was evident in his self-learning and practice. He transformed our garage's parking space into a woodworking shop, starting with designs from magazines and eventually creating his own as his confidence and skill grew.
Mike's versatility never fails to impress. He solves complex financial problems during the day and creates beautiful woodwork pieces in his spare time. The result of his creative hard work is not just evident, but it's a warm and inviting presence in our home. His craftsmanship is adorned in our house, from a pen and pencil set to a China cabinet, adding a touch of beauty to our everyday lives.
I learned a few things by observing and occasionally helping with Mike’s woodwork. First, never dismiss woodworking as manual labor. Woodworking is, in fact, a highly intellectual trade. It demands a creative mind-knowing how to turn pieces of wood into something beautiful and functional. It also requires good math skills – you will struggle with woodworking if you are not good at calculating fractions and super hand and eye coordination.
But most importantly, woodworking demands sharp focus. You must tune out noise and distractions from the world around you and only concentrate on the task at hand -- otherwise, you won’t have any fingers left, especially if you are not paying attention when using power tools. Mike almost cut one of his fingers off at once, and fortunately, he was using a hand tool.
Second, there is such a thing as the right tool for each task. As Mike’s woodworking skills advanced, he started to acquire all kinds of tools, and we quickly ran out of room to store them. Whenever he told me that he was interested in a specific tool, I, being the frugal person, always wanted to know the cost of the tool and whether it had more than one function or purpose. Often, Mike would reply, “No, it does this one thing, but it does it really well.” After a while, I learned not to ask those questions again because I finally understood that a woodworker is like a symphony conductor. He must choose the best tool for each task. Using the wrong tool wastes time and sets you up for failure and endless frustrations.
Third, woodworking is best suited for an independent, freedom-loving person. Mike does everything independently, from designing to shopping for wood, taking measurements, cutting, assembling, gluing, sanding, and finishing. He owns the glory and pride of the finished product. He also has to own any mistakes along the way, having no one else to blame. Mistakes will be made during the woodworking process. And just like in life, some errors can be fixed to the point that they are barely noticeable. Other mistakes often mean he has to start all over again. Woodworking is not just a craft, it's a journey of personal growth and learning about humility.
Successful woodworking is also a testament to patience. I learned not to hurry Mike in his creative state when he’s working on a project. Woodworking is a process that speed is often the enemy of beauty and quality. Being patient is not only necessary for the woodworker but also for the end user. Keep in mind that beauty and quality are always worth waiting for.
Mike spends many hours in his woodwork shop/garage whenever he can. His official explanation is that he feels relaxed when doing woodwork, even though it is mentally and sometimes physically challenging. I assume secretly, husbands often find a few hours away from their wives relaxing no matter what they do😊. I have never told Mike this, but I found one of his most attractive moments was when he was so focused on working with the wood at hand that he was completely unaware that he was covered by sawdust.
We live in a culture prioritizing cost and speed over beauty, quality, and patience. Before I married Mike, I would not hesitate to buy a mass-produced product from a big box store or online whenever needed. It’s convenient and suitable for our modern busy lifestyle. As consumers, we are conditioned to purchase poorly made stuff cheaply, expect it to break soon, and be replaced by something new. However, since Mike’s craftsmanship has entered my life, I started to appreciate the beauty of handcrafted items and the patience required to create them. Nowadays, whenever I need something, I always ask Mike first if he can make it because I know he will create something functional, handsome, unique, and timeless. I’m blessed to have a partner with a creative mind, generous heart, and skillful hands.
It's truly disheartening that our education system has phased out shop classes, depriving young people of the connection with physical world, and the joy of creating something tangible with their hands in trades like auto mechanics and woodworking. The satisfaction of seeing a project come to life through one's own efforts is a feeling that every child should experience.
If you are parents with kids at home, you have a unique opportunity to fill the gap left by the education system. Teach your children how to build, create, or grow something with their hands. This hands-on experience will not only impart enduring knowledge and skills but also help them build character and a love and appreciation for others who work with their hands. And who knows, their future spouses might just thank you for it.
What a wonderful article Helen, I love everything you write, it’s so thoughtful. I appreciate what your husband does in his nice little woodworking shop, I bet he keeps it pretty clean, it sure sounds like he takes pride in his work. I too was a woodworker of sorts, a building contractor in my working life. What I loved about building the most, was the satisfaction of starting a difficult job, 2nd story room addition, and after a lot of hard work and perseverance, you could stand back and say; “Yeah, we did all that!” God bless you guys & may you have a great Labor Day!
To labor is good for one’s soul I believe! Blessings….. Gary Schelvan
We had a cabinetmaker at our church who passed away at 92. He was a Godsend to the church, keeping everything going for years. When he died, people came from 60 miles away to pay their respects at his memorial service. He had six kids and his offspring filled the church at the service. He was truly a blessing, a wonderful person.
On another subject, do you know about the Chinese money "initiative"? From Liberty Counsel:
"Even Worse than COVID Lockdowns.
Aug 31, 2024
"Thailand is now bribing its citizens into accepting digital control of their finances. Last week, the Thai government opened registration for Thai residents to receive “free” money.
"The Thai government is hoping that 45-50 million citizens accept their “free” money. But there’s a catch — the residents are not receiving cash. Instead, they are being bribed into accepting a digital financial control scheme — the country’s newly created Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).
"The Biden/Harris administration is pushing for the same thing in America, beginning with welfare recipients.
"The Thai government is giving away 50 billion dollars of the country’s newly invented CBDC and hopes that 45-50 million Thai citizens will accept the digital funny money. The users must open a government-authorized digital wallet to receive, hold, and spend the CBDC. And of course, because the government owns and controls both the wallet and the “currency,” the government will control the user by controlling their money.
"Communist China used nearly the same tactic when it began implementing its digital financial control scheme a few years ago. When the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) first introduced its CBDC, Chinese citizens were loath to adopt it. So, the CCP began giving away “free” money.
"Through a series of giveaways and lotteries, the CCP has given away millions in free digital currency to its citizens, but that “free” money comes with strings attached. The CCP gets to monitor and control how and when a person uses their “money.”
"Fast-forward to 2024, and the CCP’s control has become so pervasive that if the party feels a user has spent too much money on gasoline or health care, the CCP forbids the user from spending his or her own money, no matter how much money is in that person’s account. Because the CCP controls the digital wallet and payment systems, the person’s payment card is automatically rejected at the place of payment, be that a gas pump or a doctor’s office.
"In March 2022, Joe Biden issued Executive Order 14067, in which the Biden- Harris administration ordered the Federal Reserve (the Fed) to begin developing a U.S. CBDC that will replace cold, hard, and uncontrollable cash. And Kamala Harris is even worse on this issue than Biden.
"Dr. Peter St. Onge, an economist with The Heritage Foundation and Mises Institute, says CBDCs effectively convert money from an asset we own into a vehicle for governments to own, monitor, and control every citizen’s money. And by controlling the money, the government controls the people.
"It’s the “financial equivalent of COVID lockdowns forever,” says Dr. St. Onge...The government robbed Americans of their most basic rights, arresting people and pastors for opening their churches, and even yanking the medical licenses of health care professionals who refused to accept Dr. Fauci’s dangerous shots."