Tag: talents

Mass Production

Jennifred Jones

Today, looking at all the products in Target, I was thinking how quickly an item can be duplicated and produced once the pattern is made. Many, many, many of the same items can be turned out in a short amount of time with little effort.  So much of our world applies the mass production to its wooden spoons, its canned goods, its cars, its clothing, food, even our work and our jobs.

The purpose behind this is more goods produced in less time, fewer facilities needed to make the product, even less materials can be used once the process gets down to a science, and last but not least, fewer people are needed to make these goods. All this can make a person feel like a mere cog in the wheel, just part of the cycle of production, not important, perhaps even replaceable and unneeded. This can really begin to eat at you if you let it.

The good news is God, the creator of everything, did not mass produce anything! He made, created, a lot out of nothing, but none of it is mass produced. You can rest assured you are not a cog in the wheel to God. You were not mass produced, turned off an assembly line… maybe up to spec and maybe not. No, God made you and said, “It is good!” Each of us has His stamp on us. We are all unique, each has certain traits, characteristics, talents, and skills; although perhaps similar to another’s they are different and God wants to use them in a different way. Don’t despise your differences when you try to compare yourself with others. Know that God made you just the way He intended. Now all we have to do is grow and develop and allow Him to bring to maturity what He started.

He who began a good work in you will finish it!

ALL I HAVE IS THIS BROOM!

Jennifred Jones

What can I do to help others?  I can’t see any special talents. All I have is this broom. A old red-handled, broken-bristle whisk broom.

Then you can sweep the sidewalks and streets around your domicile and keep them clean for Jesus. ‘Yeah, but that’s manual labor, hard work, not thought of as respectable work.’ Did you know manual is in Jesus name? Emanuel!  He said He would bless all the works of our hands, so whatever we set our hand to do, He sees it as important and will bless it. (Deuteronomy 28:8.)

People notice when we keep our areas neat and tidy. They notice when we care about our surroundings. It is an encouragement for them to start taking better care of and respecting what they have. All many need is someone’s example to follow; and people are watching.

One small place I worked was very disorganized and dirty…layers of dirt on the carpet, woodwork, cabinets, desk and equipment…it had never been kept up.  One piece of equipment at a time I began to clean . I vacuumed and washed the carpet and washed all the woodwork and cabinets and began to organize the chaos. People began to comment each time they came in how much cleaner things looked. That was extremely rewarding to hear.

I swept the sidewalk every day in front of the store. This was ‘my’ store, my responsibility and I wanted it to look nice, and I enjoyed doing it. The street really needed to be swept along the curb’s edge, and after several months I couldn’t stand to look at it any more and got the broom and the scoop shovel and cleaned it all up. The next day the neighboring business was out cleaning their street curb! One good deed started another…and again, people noticed and commented!

The street drain across the road was covered with dirt and grass, and weeds were growing around it so water couldn’t drain. That was another project to be done, and a nice gentleman from the neighboring business came out to help me shovel it away and cut the weeds back.

One very rainy day I went to work and the street was flooded. The drain was clogged again. Although the drain wasn’t on my side of the road, I  didn’t want the water rising and coming near ‘my establishment’, so I got my trusty red-handled broom and walked across the street to see what could be done. It was really kind of fun, the road was deep in water and I just waded through it like a little kid, poking the broom handle around the drain to loosen up the fallen leaves and grass clippings that were covering it up, and then the water began to flow…rapidly!

I had created my own little river at the edge of the street. I kept stirring the water to loosen the debris and finally was able to reach down and pull it all out and throw it on the grass easement. Then I turned the broom back right side up and swept it completely clean as the water continued to drain.

Feeling a sense of accomplishment I walked back across the street to the store not thinking any more about it, cleaned the broken-bristle broom and set it up to dry. A while later a man came in and thanked me for cleaning the drain. I didn’t think anyone was watching.

On my way home, I thanked God for my father who had taught me how to use a broom, and for all the times we’d swept out the garage together. I was grateful for two hands and my red-handled broom.