©IBKimage 2012

My father was a German master cabinet maker.  New projects began with a trip to the small town lumber yard where we lived.  He would look through the various  offerings and then make a choice based on the end use , the hardness or softness, the straightness of the piece, the unique grain running through it and so on.  I would watch him draft a plan for the object ; measure, cut, plane, sand, smooth, file, turn, nail together, dovetail, glue, bore, chisel and numerous other processes to get the end result.  The best part of all was when it was all ready for finishing.  In photography we call it post processing. The intent is the same, to take a well crafted wooden article (or a well composed photo) and bring out the best from the raw material. In wood-working this is usually done by adding a stain to bring out the beauty of the unfinished grain. My father disliked covering up the grain with paint.  Today’s manufactured particle board has to be covered up since there’s no unique grain.

In the Biblical book of Proverbs  22:6 we are told to “train up a child in the way they should go and when old they will not depart from it.”  The lesson is that instead of conforming our children to our desires and dreams for them, we actually are encouraged to help them find and recognize their “bent” and then provide an environment for that to develop and to provide boundaries and correction when off the path.

As we mature, it is often hard to continue to honor that bent among the many novelties calling out for our attention.

Today’s image comes once again from the Queen City Architectural Salvage Yard here in Denver where the discarded  can be restored and transformed with love to once again delight in its bent.