More About The Mallet

The photo in the post "Rawhide, Steel, The Word and Jesus" depicts my actual working tools that I use everyday. That is the reason for the condition of the mallet...quite worn, quite dirty.....quite USED. In the previous post, I compared the rawhide mallet to God's Word. God's Word is what 'persuades' us into Jesus Christ (the steel mandrel) who lives in us, and causes us to be shaped like Him just like the rawhide mallet shapes a bent ring against a steel mandrel.

In my 26 year career I can only remember replacing 2 rawhide mallets. I still have the original mallet I started my career with. I can remember some of the work that it helped me accomplish. We spent so much time together over many years I just couldn't bring myself to throw it out when it couldn't do the job anymore so I decided to 'retire' it. It's smaller, much more worn, more dirty and definitely more used than the one I have now.

The photo also depicts my own Bible. What you can't see in the photo is the condition of that Bible...pages bent and wrinkled, stuffed with notes, and actually all the pages are broken out of the binding. It is my everyday Bible and is why I had it handy for the photo shoot. It is the copy of God's Word I use most frequently to 'persuade' or push myself into Jesus Christ in an effort to shaped more like Him. I also still have my first Bible that was presented to me at my baptism after accepting Jesus Christ as my Savior over 40 years ago. I spent a lot of time with it too until it became so worn I had to "retire" it as well. Both my original mallet and Bible are in places where I see them ocassionally and they both still make me smile when I do...like seeing old friends.

One of my best friends (and brother-in-law) has a note in his Bible that reads, "A Bible that's falling apart usually belongs to someone who's not". Both my mallet and my Bible show signs of use. Every day I encounter jewelry that needs to be fixed. And every day I find that I need to be fixed too. I'm glad that both my mallet and my Bible show signs of use. That means I'm still working on jewelry and that God is still working on me. I love the work God has allowed me to do in my life (Proverbs 16:3), and I know God loves the work I allow Him to do in my life as well (Philemon 1:6).


Someday, just like my original mallet and my original Bible, I'll be "retired"...in a place where Jesus will see me all the time...we'll be smiling...old friends...together forever...all the work done.

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