My girlfriend Gail has her kids in a whittling class taught by a member of her church. I was really impressed with what they were able to do with a chisel and a soft piece of wood, so I thought I'd try my hand at it for an anniversary gift for my husband. We're big on handmade gifts in the Grant home, so I thought of what would be most meaningful to him. The first thing that came to mind was the word "shema" in Hebrew, as in the "hear" of Deuteronomy 6:4 fame. For one little word, it is PACKED with meaning when even a cursory look is made at the Hebrew. I could go on, but let's just say it has become a precious and meaningful word to us. I did my best to sketch out the 'shin', 'mem' and 'ayin' (שְׁמַ֖ע), and whittled away. The grapevines along the edges allude to numerous biblical references, my favorite and the most well-known being the vine imagery found in John 15. When I was all done, I rubbed some stain on it, wrapped it up, and rested my poor hand. It was a gratifying project to do, but ideally, one should give themselves a little more time than the three days that I gave myself. Yikes!
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