From Log to Perfection--And Patience with Ourselves

Yesterday Jonathan and Timmy finished this log bench that they'd been working on for weeks--
just in time for company!
While Sam was downstairs screwing pieces of drywall back up on a ceiling, part of which had to be torn down a while back for a project,
Jonathan and Timmy got the brackets screwed on this bench for the legs.


We get logs and firewood anytime we have a chance.
 
 If we find extra, we share with friends who need firewood, too, like friends in town where this load is being taken.

 Lots of scrap wood sawed up from one of Jonathan's jobs.

But one tree Jonathan and crew sawed down was good enough wood to take to a sawmill to saw into slabs for projects like this bench.

Jonathan and Timmy sanding it to make it smooth.

Then there were the layers of polyurethane to make it shine.

The beautiful wood grain showed through, along with knots and cracks and the underside of bark.
Funny how we like the knots and cracks--not because they are necessarily so beautiful,
but they make the wood look REAL.

It's called "live edge" finish, when you have bark, knots, etc. left on the edge instead of straight edges sawed.

There aren't very many people who don't appreciate authenticity and reality.

Try as we might to cover up our rough edges and knots and cracks, people find them anyway,

so why not just be real?

It's important, though, to permit the sawing, sanding, and shining processes.
I agonized through the months of waiting from start to finish.
Waited for a slab to be chosen from the pile--one out of two piles of a dozen or more slabs.
And what a privilege to be chosen!

Waited for the hours and hours and HOURS of sanding.
I really couldn't see why there had to be that many hours of sanding.
I'm okay with a bench that is rustic, not perfect.
But Jonathan wanted perfection.
Soooooo----

 I waited.
The wood was sawed to length, and I waited.
More sanding, and sawdust out on the north side of the house, and sawdust on the front porch, and sawdust on the back deck. I patiently swept up sawdust--because I knew something beautiful was in the making.
Then I waited for all the applications of polyurethane, and more sanding.
There were sanding pads in a bag under the school desk and cans of polyurethane sitting around, and a paintbrush and other stuff, and I tried not to get too upset at the clutter. 
The bench board was sitting drying on the deck rail and bench legs lay out front on a pen set up in the yard.
Then I waited some more. The bench was standing up in the house waiting for the legs to be done, and waiting for the brackets.
And FINALLY, the guys finished it.
I get impatient with the process of making a bench, and even more with God's process with me.
Why can't I learn better and get my rough edges sanded off better and shine brighter?
"Let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing,"
James 1:4 says.
Lord, You are so patient with Your people.
Help us be patient with ourselves and with others as You work on us!