Dad was always sharpening his knife. Come to think of it, knives. He had several pocket knives over the years which he carried for work, and a tiny, pearl handled pen knife for his casual and dress clothes. All of the blades were sharp, razor sharp.
Every so often he would ritualistically take the kitchen knives and subject them to the same rigorous examination, touching his thumb gently to the edge of the blades, and then set about honing them on various grades of whetstones. He had several of those, too.
I don’t recall ever asking him why he did this, since it was so obvious. I used to beam with pride whenever a need for a knife would arise, and he would calmly reach into his pocket, and pull out the cutting machine. “Wow, that’s sharp,” his amazed audience would observe.
Dad would just grin, and look at them with a mock-condescending, playful gleam in his eye, and dryly reply, “It’s a knife.” (That was back before people started saying, “Duh!”)
Those were teachable moments for me, for I would learn (sometimes the hard way) that not only should knives be sharp, but a dull knife is more dangerous because the pressure required to cut something with a knicked-up blade can lead to slipping.
I also learned that using a blade meant dulling the blade. In the daily cutting of string, packaging, paper, and sticks, little by little the knife loses its edge. It isn’t one cut, it’s the daily, repeated cuts.
Life is a lot like that. We usually figure out how to handle the huge crises and traumas, but lots of minor irritations, disappointments, and frustrations mount up. It’s the thousand tiny cuts that dull us.
Before we know it, we are snapping at people, not wanting to answer the phone, and looking for something to ease the pain of the never-ending series of mini-crises that, well, never end.
Maybe that’s why Jesus warned his disciples against fatigue when they were supposed to be praying (Matthew 26:41). Maybe that’s why Peter prescribed alertness and self-control as defenses against the daily prowling of Satan (1 Peter 5:8), and to be prepared with a ready witness (1 Peter 3:15). Maybe that’s why Paul said to resist the world’s relentless pressure, by daily renewing our minds (Romans 12:2).
I think Dad would just say, “Stay sharp.”
“Be very careful, then, how you live–not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” Ephesians 5:15, 16