Impressions

This is a picture of the kitchen wall at our cottage after we had taken down a plastic teapot shelf that had been hanging there as long as I can remember. It makes me think of a story I heard once about a child who was always losing her temper. Each time she got angry and said hurtful things, her father would lead her out to the backyard, quietly hand her a hammer and a nail and have her hammer the nail into the fence. Before long, the fence started to look like a hedgehog!

But as the days and weeks passed, the girl gradually learned to control her temper and bite back her mean remarks; there were days when no new nails were hammered into the fence. In fact, on those days, the girl and her father would go out to the backyard and remove one nail from the fence.

Over time, the girl became good enough at recognizing her triggers and thinking things through before she spoke that there were no extra nails left sticking out of the fence. On the day the final nail was removed, her father stood beside her and asked, "What do you see?"

She said, "The nails are all gone... but the fence is still full of holes."

"Yes," said her father. "Even when we are ready to take back our angry words, it's not always possible to undo the damage they've done to those around us... it's much better if we can avoid making those holes in the first place."

There's a particular technique in quilting which uses light sensitive fabric to capture the shape of objects and create unique designs. It reminds me of questions I need to ask myself often: What kind of impressions am I making on those closest to me every day? Am I adding light or shadow to the world? What will I leave behind to mark my passing? 

Time to get out there and mend my fences... :)