The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail.
Isaiah 58:11
Most kids live for the most expensive toys advertised. They want the Snoopy Sno Cone Machine, the Easy Bake Oven, the Deluxe Hot Wheels set, the Arctic Adventure GI Joe Set. Yet most kids end up playing with the box the toy came in as much as they do they toy. You can play with as expensive of a toy as you want, but you always come back to the simple pleasures in life. Even when you get older that doesn’t seem to go away.
When I was younger, I was no different. I wanted the expensive bicycles, the GI Joe that talks – with the beard of course, and the deluxe chemistry set. I played with all of it, but I also played with the box. I remember very vividly when our parents got a new freezer my sister and I played with the cardboard box that the freezer came in for at least a week. We played with that box until it was almost unrecognizable as a box.
Living with Granny and Granddaddy for about a year, they got to know my sister and I very well. Granny knew just how to make the smiley face pancakes and Granddaddy knew how everything worked. They both began to pick up on mine and my sister’s likes and dislikes. They began to understand what truly appealed to us, and made sure that we were able to enjoy some of these things. My sister loved her dolls, and anything that would enhance her appearance. Granny would take the time to brush her hair, and let her wear some costume jewelry earrings. Granny really took the time to make sure that she felt special.
I, on the other hand, had a tendency to take things apart. I had a tremendous fascination with what makes things tick. Of course, if you ask my wife today, that fascination has not diminished in the least. Today I am usually able to put something back together again, and it actually works. However, at the age of 6 all of the screws seemed like a bit of an overkill; I was quite sure that all of the parts were not entirely necessary.
At one point I had a small robot that I really enjoyed playing with until the batteries died. I wasn’t convinced that the reason for its demise was the fact that the batteries died, so I proceeded to dissect my robot to find out what was “wrong” with him. Unfortunately, he did not survive the surgery any better than the previous ten items that I had dismantled to find out what was “wrong” with them. I imagine that this trend was beginning to concern my grandparents, and out of a sense of self-defense they needed to give me items that didn’t really matter if I was able to reassemble them or not.
Granddaddy had recently replaced some of the doorknobs around the house, and really had no use for the discarded ones, but I did. He gave me one of the dull brass door knobs to play with. Within minutes I had begun to disassemble it. I really dove into it taking out all of the intricate pieces and asking Granddaddy what each of them were; I am still amazed at his patience. With each screw, nut, bolt, and locking mechanism I began to uncover the mysteries of how door knobs and locking mechanisms work.
Hours and hours I sat quietly with my doorknob assembling and disassembling to find out how the pieces worked together. I removed all of the pieces I could and put them back together to see how they interacted with each other. I was completely and totally enthralled with this simple machine. My grandparents were completely at ease with the fact that I was not trying to disassemble the refrigerator to find out how it worked. As a result, the secret was out of the bag now.
For years after this, my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and anyone else who valued their functioning equipment would give me things that were broken to fix; especially if they did not really care if it got repaired or not. Sometimes the patient would survive and sometimes it wouldn’t. As I got older, oddly enough, more of them survived than didn’t. Just to think, it all started with my grandparents paying attention to what appealed to me and building on it.
Eventually, this interest turned into a college degree and a job as an engineer for a number of years. I tinkered, disassembled, and reassembled a multitude of things during the years that I worked as an engineer. Although I no longer work as an engineer the drive to see what makes things tick is still very much alive and well within me. I doubt seriously if I have taken a doorknob apart in decades, but should the need arise I feel ready.
Isaiah 58:11
Most kids live for the most expensive toys advertised. They want the Snoopy Sno Cone Machine, the Easy Bake Oven, the Deluxe Hot Wheels set, the Arctic Adventure GI Joe Set. Yet most kids end up playing with the box the toy came in as much as they do they toy. You can play with as expensive of a toy as you want, but you always come back to the simple pleasures in life. Even when you get older that doesn’t seem to go away.
When I was younger, I was no different. I wanted the expensive bicycles, the GI Joe that talks – with the beard of course, and the deluxe chemistry set. I played with all of it, but I also played with the box. I remember very vividly when our parents got a new freezer my sister and I played with the cardboard box that the freezer came in for at least a week. We played with that box until it was almost unrecognizable as a box.
Living with Granny and Granddaddy for about a year, they got to know my sister and I very well. Granny knew just how to make the smiley face pancakes and Granddaddy knew how everything worked. They both began to pick up on mine and my sister’s likes and dislikes. They began to understand what truly appealed to us, and made sure that we were able to enjoy some of these things. My sister loved her dolls, and anything that would enhance her appearance. Granny would take the time to brush her hair, and let her wear some costume jewelry earrings. Granny really took the time to make sure that she felt special.
I, on the other hand, had a tendency to take things apart. I had a tremendous fascination with what makes things tick. Of course, if you ask my wife today, that fascination has not diminished in the least. Today I am usually able to put something back together again, and it actually works. However, at the age of 6 all of the screws seemed like a bit of an overkill; I was quite sure that all of the parts were not entirely necessary.
At one point I had a small robot that I really enjoyed playing with until the batteries died. I wasn’t convinced that the reason for its demise was the fact that the batteries died, so I proceeded to dissect my robot to find out what was “wrong” with him. Unfortunately, he did not survive the surgery any better than the previous ten items that I had dismantled to find out what was “wrong” with them. I imagine that this trend was beginning to concern my grandparents, and out of a sense of self-defense they needed to give me items that didn’t really matter if I was able to reassemble them or not.
Granddaddy had recently replaced some of the doorknobs around the house, and really had no use for the discarded ones, but I did. He gave me one of the dull brass door knobs to play with. Within minutes I had begun to disassemble it. I really dove into it taking out all of the intricate pieces and asking Granddaddy what each of them were; I am still amazed at his patience. With each screw, nut, bolt, and locking mechanism I began to uncover the mysteries of how door knobs and locking mechanisms work.
Hours and hours I sat quietly with my doorknob assembling and disassembling to find out how the pieces worked together. I removed all of the pieces I could and put them back together to see how they interacted with each other. I was completely and totally enthralled with this simple machine. My grandparents were completely at ease with the fact that I was not trying to disassemble the refrigerator to find out how it worked. As a result, the secret was out of the bag now.
For years after this, my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and anyone else who valued their functioning equipment would give me things that were broken to fix; especially if they did not really care if it got repaired or not. Sometimes the patient would survive and sometimes it wouldn’t. As I got older, oddly enough, more of them survived than didn’t. Just to think, it all started with my grandparents paying attention to what appealed to me and building on it.
Eventually, this interest turned into a college degree and a job as an engineer for a number of years. I tinkered, disassembled, and reassembled a multitude of things during the years that I worked as an engineer. Although I no longer work as an engineer the drive to see what makes things tick is still very much alive and well within me. I doubt seriously if I have taken a doorknob apart in decades, but should the need arise I feel ready.
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