"RECIPE FOR RIGHTFUL LIVING: THE CARPENTER" by Isaac Oluyi

It is time yet again to reflect on life. Life is fun. Life is interesting. Yet life is complex. Life could also be difficult and jejune. What a paradox! As paradoxical as life is, one can still make the best use of life by one’s attitude or choices. More often than not it is what one asks of life that it gives one. It works on the principle of sowing and reaping. What one sows is what one reaps. Even if it seems that things are not looking up for one at the moment, do not be weary in doing good. To drive home this point, let us pause and ponder on the following story shared in my forthcoming book “RECIPE FOR RIGHTFUL LIVING”. Today’s story is entitled ‘The Carpenter’. I hope you are blessed with it.

An elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told his employer/contractor of his plans to leave the house building business and live a more leisurely life with his wife enjoying his extended family. He would miss the pay check, but he needed to retire. They could get by.

The contractor was sorry to see his good worker go and asked if he could build just one more house as a personal favour. The carpenter said yes, but in time it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work. He resorted to shoddy workmanship and used inferior materials. It was an unfortunate way to end his career.

When the carpenter finished his work and the builder came to inspect the house, the contractor handed the front-door key to the carpenter. "This is your house," he said, "my gift to you."

Moral Lesson

What a shock! What a shame! If he had only known he was building his own house, he would have done it all so differently. Now he had to live in the home he had built not too well.

So it is with us. We build our lives in a distracted way, reacting rather than acting, willing to put up less than the best. At important points we do not give the job our best effort. Then with a shock we look at the situation we have created and find that we are now living in the house we have built. If we had realised, we would have done it differently.

Think of yourself as the carpenter. Think about your house. Each day you hammer a nail, place a board, or erect a wall. Build wisely. It is the only life you will ever build. Even if you live it for only one day more, that day deserves to be lived graciously and with dignity. The plaque on the wall says, "Life is a do-it-yourself project."

Who could say it more clearly? Your life today is the result of your attitudes and choices in the past. Your life tomorrow will be the result of your attitudes and the choices you make today.