tkt8763-01: The Carpenter -Forwarded

[Cheryl Marie Whitfield <cmwhit@ra.msstate.edu>]

Food for thought, sent to me by a friend.
     
The Carpenter
     
An elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told his employer-contractor of 
his plans to leave the housebuilding business and live a more leisurely life 
with his wife enjoying his extended family.
     
He would miss the paycheck, but he needed to retire.  They  could get 
by.
     
The contractor was sorry to see his good worker go and asked if he could
build just one more house as a personal favor.  The carpenter said yes, but in 
time it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work.  He resorted to 
shoddy workmanship and used inferior materials. It was an unfortunate way to 
end his career.
     
When the carpenter finished his work and the builder came to inspect the 
house, the contractor handed the front-door key to the carpenter. "This is 
your house," he said, "my gift to you."
     
What a shock!  What a shame!  If he had only known he was building his own 
house, he would have done it all so differently.  Now he had to live in the 
home he had built none too well.
     
So it is with us.  We build our lives in a distracted way, reacting rather 
than acting, willing to put up less than the best.  At important points we 
do not give the job our best effort.  Then with a shock we look at the 
situation we have created and find that we are now living in the house we 
have built.  If we had realized that we would have done it differently.
     
Think of yourself as the carpenter. Think about your house.  Each day you 
hammer a nail, place a board, or erect a wall. Build wisely.  It is the only 
life you will ever build.  Even if you live it for only one day more, that 
day deserves to be lived graciously and with dignity.  The plaque on the 
wall says, "Life is a do-it-yourself project.  Who could say it more 
clearly? Your life today is the result of your attitudes and choices in the 
past.  Your life tomorrow will be the result of your attitudes and the 
choices you make today.  Pass this on to someone you like.  I did.
     
     
      * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
      *      Cheryl M. Whitfield, Curriculum Design Associate     *
      *    CETT / 309 Bost Extension Building / P. O. Box 9662    *
      *            Mississippi State, Mississippi 39762           *
      *            cmwhit@ra.msstate.edu / 601-325-3381           *
      *                                                           *
      *			       ************                       *
      *                                                           *
      *	    "Whether you think you can or you think you can't     *
      *  	   ...you are correct!" (Henry Ford)              *
      * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
     
     

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