Last Sunday, during the opening church announcements, my friend Susan said that I needed to be at the coming church work day. “Since you’re the only one who really knows what he’s doing.” Later in the week I received an email and a phone call from one of our pastors, confirming my invitation. In order to be an effective volunteer, I needed to plan for what tools I might need. I also needed to plan for something else; every carpenter needs his apprentice.
I had not worked with Noah for a few weeks, and he readily joined my father and I for our outing to All Saints. My sister informed me that he had been up since 6AM to ask if it was time to go yet. His enthusiasm for work did not diminish as the day progressed, but grew stronger. Noah is a rarely delightful 10 year old. Today we demolished a fence, cut down a tree, took out a basketball hoop, and removed a stand-alone 8×8 treated post.
Afterword, we with my father took a trip across town to Red Mill Burger at Interbay. The three of us went after our top-of-the-line fast food with hardly a thought for chewing or conversation. After a few focused minutes we were once again fueled and ready for work, which was good. We still needed to stop by my jobsite in Ballard to pick up a truck-load of salvaged kindling from last week’s project.
At the end of our load-up, Lorna commented to me as to how good of a worker Noah was. Between Lorna and the crew at church, about a dozen people got to witness what a boy who is becoming a young man looks like; what a young person can do if he chooses to engage life with a willingness and a positive outlook. These tasks, when performed with all of the energy we have, take on new importance and have the ability to shape who we will be.
albaniacalling 