I had a chance to do some forging for a friend yesterday, he was renewing his vows of marraige, I only had a couple hours, so I went out to the forge and found a couple rusty pieces of 1/4" rod, and shaped them into heart hooks as a gift to him and his bride. As I was doing it, as is my habit, I was talking to God, and over time a thought came to me, this is how God works, Take a couple pieces of cast off material (us in our flesh) and through refining fires, make us into something he desires. It was another defining moment for me in my shop. It led me to put a twist into the ends, to represent the 3 corded strand, (not easily broken) and shape the vertical portion into a heart, indicating the love our God has for us. I gave them to my friends at the ceremony last night, and forgot to take pics, I have asked him to take a pic for me, they are nothing fancy, but when I explained these thoughts to him, you could see the tears gathering in his eyes, he got the message. On this scheduled day of thanksgiving, I am in awe of our creator, and how he takes time to explain himself to an idiot like me. God Bless.

Mike, that was beautiful! I beleive religion is not organized, but is individual within each one of us, and this is a beautiful example.

Max Lucado's book, "On the Anvil" is a good read and mirrors many of your comments. Happy Thanksgiving and God Bless.

Great! Something your friend will treasure for a long time and the explanation of the elements and what them mean to you obviously had an impact on him also.
I agree, Hollis, a good read. I would limit myself to one a day...kinda like the vitamins;) so I could savour what GOD was saying to me through Max that day.

You know you're just going to gag the daylights out of some but I used to get these thoughts when I was doing a bronze pour. You melt the metal and all the crap floats to the top and gets skimmed off and only the pure metal is left to be poured into a mould so something useful can be fashioned.

I'm new here but it is nice to see a forum for prayer request and see someone talking about God. May God bless each of you this Thanksgiving season. Ben

Amen!!!!!!

Religious I'm not, spiritual I am. I think there is a difference between the two but I just cant seem to put into words when I try to describe it to other folks.
I think you have hit upon it. When your making something for a friend and your talking to God, you have put a little piece of your own soul into the work and that is a gift beyond compare, and your friends recgonize that.
I have made things and set them aside for months without a second thought, then all of the sudden I have met someone and just know that the thing I made months ago was for them and I was just holding it untill they showed up. And these are folks that I've only met once and will probably never see again.
I have long ago given up trying to explain this and now just accept it.
Thank you for this insight

Jafo,
I have done the same thing!! I never thought of it that way though! How cool, next time it happens, It will definately be something I think about. Many items are sitting in my shop right now, awaiting the right time and person, now I understand why they are still there. I guess I never questioned why, because it is such a natural process. Thanks back to you!!

a cuz said this and i have to agree " I love God but i hate religon". My feeling is the lord likes his material forged so it can due his work. Thank for shareing

It is amazing what happens to the mind when the body is in harmony... at the anvil my mind wanders. ... in a good way .. the body works and the mind works, and the spirit works in harmony to make me a little more whole... I act from the calm center... and can listen to God or the song of the universe...

Thought I was alone in the.. and a little crazy...
clean coal and good iron to you all

Cliff

When I did the cross in the rock, I had never done even a single one, during the time of forging, I really felt as if I was being helped, things just went sooo smoothly, and some very interesting things happened all through the process, inspirations, other peoples vision of what they were seing, never occurred to me. And it still inspires a lot of comments, but I can't really take credit for most of it.