Steve's Writing: Sharpening the Saw (a Steve Orr scripture reflection)

Saturday, June 1, 2024

Sharpening the Saw (a Steve Orr scripture reflection)

The problem was the saw.

Building the sets for a large stage production takes a lot of wood. Each piece must be cut to exact specifications and then assembled into walls, floors, stairs, furniture, etc. Anything that slows down the flow of those precisely cut boards is a serious problem.

That’s what was happening. Our radial saw, the main equipment used to produce our needed wood pieces, had become a bottleneck. With almost every piece, the crew-person on the saw was having to stop and back out the blade because it was getting stuck part way through. More than a couple times, a piece had to be thrown out and the process started over because the cut wasn’t straight.

We had finished assembling a few of the larger all-wood set pieces and platforms, and now had nothing to do until more wood arrived. At the rate we were going, we were not going to meet our deadline. We had to meet that deadline. If we didn’t get the sets built, the actors in our annual college musical were going to be singing Camelot tunes on an empty stage!

Into this situation stepped Mr. Starnes, one of our drama instructors and the Technical Director on this musical production. He took it all in with one long glance, and then he walked straight over to the person running the saw. From a distance, I saw them remove the saw blade and replace it with another. As he walked back past me, I asked Mr. Starnes about it. He said, “We’ve used that blade too much. It’s grown dull. We put on a new, sharp blade. We’ll have the other one sharpened.”

It was as simple as that. In short order, wood production increased, pieces began to flow out to the various working groups, and we were soon all engaged—turning wood into dreams.

I recalled that memory when I read Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. There, nestled among some excellent habits, right at the end, was Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw. Habit 7 is not about saw blades: It’s about renewal. It’s about renewing people in four dimensions: physical, mental, spiritual, and social/emotional.

If that rings a bell, it’s because it sounds a lot like something you may have come across in the Bible. Many of Covey’s “habits” are remarkably similar to Biblical exhortations. Habit 7 aligns perfectly with this week’s Deuteronomy and Mark passages about the Sabbath.

The Deuteronomy passage repeats one of the Ten Commandments. God tells people it’s important to take a day of rest following every six of working—so important, God makes it a commandment! Add in what Jesus teaches in Mark—that God made the Sabbath for people, not people for the Sabbath—and you realize taking a Sabbath rest is not about following a rule that restricts activity and movement.

The Sabbath is truly about renewal. And if done properly, taking a Sabbath rest renews us in all four of those dimensions defined by Covey. It’s not enough to stop our work activities just to replace them with some other equally-frantic non-work activities. We need real rest, real renewal. Taking a Sabbath rest is the opportunity to “sharpen” those essential areas of our lives.

After all, as I learned all those years ago building sets for Camelot, you can’t really be productive with a dull saw.

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PHOTO (and short article about sharpening saw blades):

https://www.sawtrax.com/how-to-tell-if-your-saw-blade-needs-to-be-sharpened-or-replaced/amp/#

SABBATH RESOURCES

Catch Your Breath: God’s Invitation to Sabbath Rest —Don Postma

Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives

—Richard A. Swensen, M.D.

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DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast meets Friday morning at 8:00. We gather on Zoom** and at Our Breakfast Place for food, fellowship, Bible discussion, prayer, and laughter. All are welcome.

Blessings,

Steve

**Zoom link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89947678414

NOTE: Zoom allows you to mute the camera and the microphone if you don’t wish to be seen or heard.

SCRIPTURES FOR SUNDAY AND THE COMING WEEK

Find them here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=204

Print them here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/pdf//Bx_Proper4.pdf

1 Samuel 3:1-10, (11-20)

Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18