Tools of the Trade

My nephew wanted a foam hammer for his birthday. 

A few days before he turned 13, he sent me a link on Amazon for this $35 tool that’s not really useful for pounding nails or repairing anything.

I asked my sister what it was for {and if she really wanted me to get this for him} and she said it was a movie prop for the videos he shoots on his iPhone.

I know that my nephew loves concocting movie scenarios, texting his friends in the neighborhood with his latest cinematic ideas and having them all show up on my sister’s doorstep, ready for action.

But of course sometimes we {his family} show up in his moviemaking projects, too, and we don't even realize it. 

He’s filmed his dad in the garage building something out of a stack of wood, moving frenetically in super-fast motion, and he's constantly recording his sister in daredevil snippets, dangling from rope swings, swinging from trees and laying under a platform as he rides his bike over her.

Then there was me, an unlikely star, of course. 

I saw a photo of myself as the screensaver on his phone and I thought it was awfully sweet that my nephew wanted to look at me every time he picked up his phone.

Until I realized it was a video of me.

Apparently he sat across the table from me at a restaurant as I chatted away to my sister, unaware he was recording me blissfully eating a French fry. 

And I do mean blissfully. 

I dipped it ketchup, dangled it in the air, popped it in my mouth, and reached for another one. And another. And another.

All in super-slow motion, set to appropriately ridiculous music. 

It was the most unflattering, unbecoming thing I’d ever seen. 

I asked my sister if I really looked like that when I eat. 

She assured me I didn’t {although I’m not sure I believe her} and she told my nephew to delete it.

He said sure, no problem, but he already showed it to all of his friends and one of his teachers at school and they all thought it was hilarious.

What an inauspicious movie debut. But quite fitting, since my days are as far from a Hollywood star's as Florida is from California.

This time of year seems especially lackluster to me.

Such a long span of workdays ahead without holidays, yet the days are clipped short with nightfall arriving before I’ve even pulled my car into the garage after my evening commute. 

I have less than sparkling motivation for any activities other than what’s absolutely necessary to get by so I might as well turn in early with a book and hope no one wakes me until spring arrives again.

But what if I shine a different light on these winter months that seem cold and quiet? Maybe this is the time to enjoy the solitude and silence to search out more of God.

I spend so much time reading about God -- what writers and authors have to say about him -- until my head gets a little foggy and I wonder whose opinion holds more truth. 

But it's his words through scripture I need to hear more than any other words, for there lies the truth I'm seeking.

This kind of search is a contemplative journey, leading away from the spotlight, where I'm looking for scenes of perfect peace, lasting love and true joy that don't come from center stage.

The tools of the trade for a life deeply lived are introspection, consideration and adoration of God, that take me to places yet undiscovered, where no matter what the season, I can wait on him for more. 

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens. -Ecc. 3:1

Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land. - Song of Songs 3:1

My nephew was delighted with the foam hammer and hit me on the head with it just to prove how harmless it was. {It really wasn't all that soft.}  

But I've learned that from now I will only eat French fries when I'm alone and in the privacy of  my own home to protect myself from my nephew's pranks.

Which reminds me that I also bought him a prank kit for Christmas, complete with itching powder, fake blood capsules, and an amazingly realistic-looking rubber cockroach. 

After the video escapade I'm not sure why I thought this gift was a good idea.

But I guess it's just more tools of the trade for a freshly-minted teenager.

I'm having coffee with my friends at Holley Gerth's place at Coffee for your Heart. Join me there to read more posts from my blogger friends!