Having solved the
problems...
here are the first of the
spikes on the
“knife-like” crest of the back
of the throne.
I know what you’re
thinking, “Hey Cliff you missed a letter there in your title for this blog,
instead of ‘P S’ I’m sure you meant ‘PMS’! But then maybe not, I know, it means
‘postal service’, everyone would understand that one.......mmmmmm!”
I know there are several
options for what that might stand for, “Public Service”, “People Skills”,
or.... and so on.
Here is the “hate it”
part. "PS" is something I cannot get away from. It literally stalks me, showing
up a lot of times in the course of my life, but almost always at the most inopportune
times. Let me give you a poor example. It’s like when I’m working outside on my
yard, concentrating on what I’m doing, turn around and there’s my neighbour, standing
behind me with that mischievous grin on his face! Scares the daylights out of
me every time! When I ask him how long he’s been there he never tells the
truth! Other than that “one little thing” he’s a fantastic neighbour. That’s it,
the very reality of life makes it part of my existence, I know it and have to
resort to using it a lot.
The thing is that when
this ‘P S’ is necessary, I’m frustrated and wishing it and all it stands for would
just go away. But for me to go forward I have to engage with ‘it’. There’s no getting around it. This week I
tried to ignore it by doing other things for a while. But I knew, I’d have to engage
with it sometime.
The other frustrating
thing I hate about PS is that to engage with it means work. “It” makes you
think. You may even have to do research, ask questions, make phone calls and so
on.
Now the “love” part. Once
I engage with PS and get into doing the work, I usually begin to feel better. First
of all you feel better because you are not ignoring it but working at it.
Secondly, hope for results arise and that is always exciting. And that is the
thing about PS. What I do love about it is you are learning. You are beginning
to see possibilities for moving ahead. Then, there is the part where the
victory is won. The issues are resolved and you move ahead. You learned
something. You faced the giant, overcame the problem and are back on track.
That is what is good about dealing with PS.
“Ok Cliff, tell me
already, what in the world is PS?” You have probably guessed, it is “problem
solving”.
Once I finished the back
of the chair I was stumped. How do I do those spikes at the top of the back? I
know it sounds crazy. It seems to be such a simple problem. I did some other
work on another project and left the chair alone for a while, stewing on the
problem of the spikes. Do I do them first or last, work for the top or the
bottom? How do I relate them to the front and the back of the chair? Especially
with the thickness of the clay on the lip at the top of the back.
Also, I think I was tired,
problem solving challenged. Then, I decided to start at the top. Once the clay
was in my hands, solutions began to simply materialise as I went along. I
realised very quickly that I needed to make two identical spikes, one for the
front and one for the back. They would come up the back join at the top becoming
one, supporting themselves as they extended above the top of the back. Also, it
became clear I needed to cut the wide top lip bringing it to a knife-like edge so the two
spikes could joint smoothly and become one beyond the top. It all worked great,
and the spikes began to materialise one after another.
Like someone somewhere has
probably said, “The annoying necessity of problem solving is an opportunity for
the joy and anticipation of new and exciting achievements.”
“God is our place of safety...He is always there to
help us in times of trouble.”
Psalms 46:1
Cutting the top of the thrones back
to a knife-like edge.
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