A Screwdriver is Still a Screwdriver

As seen in the HEARTbeat and the Village Voice

“A Screwdriver is Still a Screwdriver”

Growing up, I was always in my father’s way.  When he was doing something, whether it was working on the car or fixing something around the house, I was only a step behind him.  As I grew, he began to pass along his knowledge by allowing me to “help” with the task.  If it was installing a new electrical receptacle, my task would be removing the old one.  If it was organizing some of the renovation materials from the house, my job was to remove the nails from discarded boards.  I learned to use a wide variety of tools from the hammer, pliers, clamps, saws, measuring tapes, to screwdrivers.  By the time I was ten years old, I knew my way around the toolbox and could hand my father any tool he requested.

Knowing each tool was only a small part of the battle.  Knowing each tools use was the key.  And to add to the complexity of the battle, a tool may have had many different versions.  Consider the hammer.  There are sledgehammers, framing hammers, claw hammers, etc.  Each version of the same tool had different uses.  And then there are the pliers.  There were regular pliers, vice-grip pliers, channel-locks, needle-nose, etc.  Get the picture?  Even something as common as a screwdriver has its own complexities, such as length, width of the head, type of head such as blade or Phillips, and type of handle.  Suffice it to say using the right tool for the right task can be a mental agility exercise for a ten-year-old boy, or anyone for that matter.

One thing I learned quickly was the proper use of each individual tool.  Sure, you could use a claw hammer to drive a nail, but you could also use a sledgehammer!  The latter would work, but it would leave a definite impression on the surrounding surface.  You could also drive a screw in the wood with a hammer, but that would be ignoring the purpose of the threads of the screw.  And one could drive a nail with a screwdriver, but that would take forever!

When we give our lives to Christ, scripture tells us we receive a gift from the Holy Spirit, a heavenly tool with which to build.  Jesus is the Master Builder and even today continues to build places in Heaven just for us.  This gift given to us is unique and made specifically for us.  It may be a spiritual hammer with which to drive points home.  It may be a spiritual saw with which to build up brothers and sisters.  It may be a spiritual screwdriver with which carefully connect two lives together.  It is important to remember to use your spiritual gift for the purpose for which it is intended.  Hammers hammer, saws saw, pliers grip, and screwdrivers sink and remove screws.

God’s gift to given to build up the kingdom of Heaven here on earth.  Use it for its intended purpose.  A screwdriver has many uses, but when used as designed, it is priceless!