I’ve got this thing. It was passed down to me inside a tin box that once belonged to my grandfather’s aunt. The thing is about 6-inches-long and 2-inches-wide. It’s made of some sort of metal with a leather strap with four loops attached to it. One end of the thing has a hook with a really, really, really sharp point. At first, no one seemed to know what the thing was or what is was used for.
Then one day while flipping through the channels on TV, I happened across the PBS program, Antiques Roadshow. I’ve seen people on this show thrilled because they own something passed down through generations that is worth thousands of dollars. I’ve seen others disappointed when they find that the object they thought was hand crafted by Paul Revere turns out to be home made by Paul not-so-revered Reed, their second cousin three times removed.
But that night on the show, a man had spread out some antique tools he had unearthed in his grandfather’s barn. There, right in the middle of the table was an object that looked exactly like the thing in Aunt Daisy’s tin case. Lo, and behold, the Roadshow expert declared that the thing had a name. A husking peg. The loops were for your fingers, the hook was where you rested your thumb while you tore the husks and the silks off the corn. Now it made perfect sense. I was the proud owner of an antique husking peg! Wow!!
But what good was it to me when I buy my corn at the grocery store, already husked for me? That husking peg is old enough to be valuable, but too old to be useful.
I think that’s the way some older people in the church might feel. They are old enough to be wise about life, but too old to be useful. Do they at times feel like they are on display at the church’s version of Antique Roadshow?
Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” People, regardless of age, are intended to do good works. Sure, the work in the later years of our lives is not like what we did earlier. But there is still work to do, regardless of our age.
At least that’s what I think each time I look at my husking peg. It is no longer used to husk corn, but its purpose now is to spur me on to good works, toward husking
out the good works left for me to do.
Now, you’ll have to excuse me. There are neighbors to pray for, cards to send to the sick, a nursing home to visit, a Bible lesson to study, cookies to bake for the kids at church, phone calls to make to some shut-ins. I may not be as active or as energetic as I was when I was younger, but I’ve still got a lot of corn husking to do.
Has anyone seen my husking peg?
Verna Davis, speaker and writer, maybe reached at VrdSpeaks@yahoo.com.
Features
THE JOY LADY: Spurred on to husk out the good works left to do
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